Zombie Deer Disease ‘May Also Be a Risk to People’?!

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(5MinNewsBreak.com) – Sounding the alarm over a potential outbreak that could devastate American wildlife, scientists warn about the fact that zombie deer disease “may also be a risk to people.”

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), dubbed “zombie deer disease,” has been detected in Yellowstone National Park for the first time.

This fatal neurological disorder affects deer, elk, and moose, causing them to lose weight, stumble around and act erratically.

CWD is eerily similar to the infamous “mad cow disease” that caused panic in the 1990s.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now warning that CWD could pose a risk to humans despite no confirmed cases of human infection.

According to the CDC, “Studies raise concerns that there may also be a risk to people.”

“Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain,” it added.

What’s truly concerning is how the zombie deer disease could impact the lives of nature enthusiasts and the nation’s food security.

For instance, the CDC is already advising hunters to test animals for CWD before consumption.

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy program co-director Dr. Cory Anderson said, “The BSE outbreak in Britain provided an example of how, overnight, things can get crazy when a spillover event happens from, say, livestock to people.”

BSE stands for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease.”

“We’re talking about the potential of something similar occurring. No one is saying that it’s definitely going to happen, but it’s important for people to be prepared,” Anderson continued.

Reports suggest that an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 CWD-infected animals are consumed by humans every year.

So far, a study of 80 people who ate infected meat showed no significant health changes.

Adding to the growing concern, this disease is nearly impossible to eradicate. It can persist in the environment for years and resist disinfectants and high temperatures.

The World Health Organization recommends preventing prion diseases from “entering the human food chain.”

University of Minnesota’s top infectious diseases researcher Dr. Michael Osterholm expressed:

“We know that people are being exposed [to CWD] through consumption [of meat] with prions. What we don’t understand yet is what would it take for that prion to actually infect that human with ingestion.”

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