Zombie deer disease hits America: Here's why it's a concern for humans

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is quietly lurking in the American grasslands, spreading in deer populations. The condition affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose that are found in North America.

The disease is caused by prions, abnormal pathogenic agents that are transmissible and can induce abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins called prion proteins. These proteins are found abundantly in the brain.Â

The disease comes from a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals. Experts suggest that this disease has a long incubation period, making it hard to detect at an early stage.Â

Scientists suggest that CWD prions can persist in the environment for extended periods. (Photo: Getty)

HOW DOES ZOMBIE DEER DISEASE INFECT?

The disease, until 2023, had been reported in at least 31 states in the US as well as three provinces in Canada. It has also been diagnosed in reindeer and moose in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, and a small number of imported cases have been reported in South Korea.

It was first identified in the 1960s.Â

Scientists suspect that it is probably transmitted among animals via bodily fluids such as faeces, saliva, blood, or urine. Transmission can occur through direct contact between animals or indirectly through environmental contamination, affecting soil, food, or water.Â

Several animal studies indicate that the disease may present a potential threat to specific non-human primates. (Photo: Getty)

Upon introduction to a region or farm, the contagious nature of the disease facilitates rapid dissemination within deer and elk populations.Â

Scientists suggest that CWD prions can persist in the environment for extended periods. Consequently, even after an infected deer or elk has perished, the potential for environmental transmission remains, allowing other animals to contract CWD from the contaminated surroundings.

WHY IS IT A BIG CONCERN? 

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDS), it may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness, and other neurologic symptoms.

“CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. CWD is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines,” the CDC said in its briefing.Â

Scientists suggest that CWD prions can persist in the environment for extended periods. (Photo: Getty)

SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED?

While there have been no cases of human infection so far. Several animal studies indicate that the disease may present a potential threat to specific non-human primates, such as monkeys, that consume meat from CWD-infected animals or have contact with brain or body fluids from infected deer or elk.Â

These findings raise apprehensions about potential risks to humans. The World Health Organization has, since 1997, stressed the importance of preventing agents from all identified prion diseases from entering the human food chain.

Deer meat, which is consumed in several western countries, could be one of the biggest sources of the disease spreading on to humans and experts have issued cautions against consuming it without proper testing.Â

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