In what scientists call a “slow-moving disaster”, a “zombie deer disease” is spreading across the United States after a case was detected in Yellowstone National Park amid concerns that the fatal brain disease may someday spread to humans.
The lethal disease has no cure and is prevalent in deer and elk.
A deer carcass in the Wyoming area of the park was tested positive for the highly contagious prion disease that can also cause weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and neurological symptoms, according to the CDC. It has been spotted in deer, elk, reindeer and moose in areas of North America, Canada, Norway and South Korea.
What is zombie deer disease?
According to the US national health organization, the Centers for illness Control and Prevention (CDC), zombie deer is a type of chronic wasting illness (CWD) that initially affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose. How the term “zombie deer” came to be is unknown.
The prions cause changes in the hosts’ brains and nervous systems, leaving animals drooling, lethargic, emaciated, stumbling and with a telltale “blank stare” that led some to call it “zombie deer disease”. It spreads through the cervid family: deer, elk, moose, caribou and reindeer. It is fatal, with no known treatments or vaccines.
What are the symptoms of zombie deer disease?
The prions of the disease cause cells in the brain and spinal cord to fold abnormally and start clumping. Symptoms can take up to a year to develop and some have dubbed it the “zombie deer disease” since it changes in the hosts’ brains and nervous systems, leaving animals drooling, lethargic, emaciated, stumbling and with a telltale “blank stare,” according to The Guardian.
What is the risk of zombie deer diseases spreading to humans?
So far, there have not been any reports of zombie deer disease transmitting to humans. However, Epidemiologists say the absence of a “spillover” case yet does not mean it will not happen. CWD is one of a cluster of fatal neurological disorders that includes BSE.
“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,” Dr. Cory Anderson told The Guardian. Anderson is a program co-director at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
“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 added.
Anderson said that once an environment is infected, the pathogen is extremely hard to eradicate. It can persist for years in dirt or on surfaces, and scientists report it is resistant to disinfectants, formaldehyde, radiation and incineration at 1,100 F, according to The Guardian.
