There is a disease that can cause fatal results in deer or similar animals. This disease is called Chronic Wasting Disease. It is also sometimes called CWD. If a deer contracts CWD the results can be fatal. The disease affects the brain by breaking it down and eventually killing the animal. People should know about it because it is many states. A deer will display many signs that it is infected. The disease is spread from deer to deer and can be somewhat prevented. There may be a possibility for humans to get CWD. The deer is a very sought after animal in the U.S. and people should be aware of how fatal CWD is.
Chronic Wasting Disease or CWD, is a disease that effects deer, elk, and moose. CWD results in “characteristic spongy degeneration” …show more content…
Tony Hansen, a white-tailed deer researcher stated, “Chronic wasting disease was first noted in 1967 by researchers studying a captive mule deer herd in Colorado.” The sick deer were in captivity so no one thought that the disease might spread into the wild. It was not until the early eighties when CWD was found in the wild (Hansen). There are a couple different theories from where CWD originated. Dr. James Kroll, a researcher from Texas stated, “The truth is, we don’t know where it came from” (qtd. In Hansen). The article Chronic Wasting Disease Frequently Asked Questions states, “CWD has been diagnosed in captive or wild free-ranging deer and/or elk in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.” This disease should be taken seriously considering it is in twenty-three states and two regions in Canada. There are several physical signs that a deer may have Chronic Wasting Disease. Hunters should be able to tell if a deer might have the disease so they can report it to their local game warden. The first sign is that a deer looks sick and has a lower weight than normal (Link). David Link, author of How to Recognize Chronic Wasting Disease also stated, “In addition to gradual weight …show more content…
Josh Rouse, a publisher for an online news source pointed out, “Estimates show 7,000 to 15,000 CWD-infected animals are being consumed by humans every year.” That is an alarming number especially if this disease can be transferred to humans. Barta stated, “Starting in 2009, 18 old world monkeys (Macaques) were exposed to CWD in many different ways. Contact to CWD was made by contact of the skin, oral ingestion, intravenously and also by needle in the brain.” They tested monkeys due to their similarities in humans. Barta also said that there were five testable monkeys and two of them were positive. If this disease is contractible to humans it could pose a serious problem. The reason people think this might infect humans is because it is similar to mad cow disease (Racaniello). Another reason it could infect humans is because of a test scientist did on mice. Rancaniello reported, “Transgenic mice have been used to understand the species barrier to prion transmission. When mice are inoculated with human prions, few animals develop disease and the incubation periods are over 500 days. When the mouse prnp gene is replaced with the human gene, the mice become uniformly susceptible to infection with human prions and the incubation period is shorter.” There is a possibility of humans getting CWD since mice were more likely to get it with the human protein in