Two hunters who reportedly ate meat from deer with chronic wasting syndrome (also known as “zombie deer disease”) acquired identical neurological problems and died, prompting worries that the disease can be transmitted from animals to people.
Both men hunted at the same lodge and ate meat from the same deer population before contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – a neurological condition similar to CWD- and passing away shortly after, according to a report written by medical experts from the University of Texas at San Antonio and published earlier this month in the clinical journal Neurology.
The men’s residence and hunting areas were not disclosed by the researchers; however, studies from the US Geological Survey and the CDC indicate that Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have the largest concentrations of CWD-infected deer.
“The patient’s history, including a similar case in his social group, suggests a possible novel animal-to-human transmission of CWD,” the authors wrote. The example does not constitute a verified case of transmission, according to the researchers, because it is difficult to discriminate between Creutzfeldt-Jakob and CWD. Yet “this cluster emphasizes the need for further investigation into the potential risks of consuming CWD-infected deer and its implications for public health,” they stated.
CWD-affected deer are sometimes referred to as “zombie deer” because of their lack of coordination, stumbling, listlessness, weight loss, drooling, and lack of fear of humans.
The disease has been identified in free-ranging deer, elk, and moose in 33 states in the continental United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after being first discovered in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming in the 1990s.
Scientists and health officials are concerned that CWD could jump to humans as mad cow disease did in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. In 2022, scientists in Canada published a study, based on mice research, suggesting a risk of CWD transmission to humans.
