“Zombie Deer Disease”: Scientists Are Concerned About Evolution's Inability to Infect Humans

The Zombie Deer Disease of the Chronic Wasting Disease, as called by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is spreading rapidly in the United States. The first case of this disease was found in mid-November in Yellowstone National Park. And now the scientists and researchers are concerned about its spread to humans and have given orders to test any moose, deer, elk, or caribou killed in road accidents. 

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion illness impacting deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose. Detected in regions of North America like Canada and the United States, as well as in Norway and South Korea, it may take more than a year for symptoms to manifest in infected animals. These symptoms include significant weight loss, stumbling, lethargy, and various neurological manifestations. Animals of any age can be affected, with some succumbing to the disease without ever showing symptoms. Unfortunately, CWD is incurable and lacks any available treatments or vaccines.

What Happens in Chronic Wasting Disease?

CWD, or chronic wasting disease, ravages the brains of afflicted animals, leading to symptoms resembling dementia and ultimately resulting in death. This ailment, caused by prions—remarkably resilient proteins—affects both animals and humans, triggering a rare form of progressive neurodegenerative disorder that steadily deteriorates the nervous system.

The World Health Organization has emphasized the importance of preventing known prion disease agents, like animals affected by CWD (commonly referred to as zombie deer disease), from entering the human food supply. However, concrete evidence demonstrating the transmission of CWD prions from animals to humans remains lacking.

The deer affected by this started losing weight (wasting) and were left drooling, stumbling, and lethargic with a blank stare. Because of this, the name “Zombie Deer Disease” was given