Researchers in the US have raised the alarm over a spike in cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) among wildlife in North America, warning that the deadly virus could spread to humans.
CWD, also known as “zombie deer disease,” is caused by prions: abnormal transmissible pathogens that alter their host’s brain and nervous system, leaving the infected animal drooling, lethargic, stumbling and blank-eyed.
Experts described the disease as a “slow moving disaster” in a recent report from The Guardian. Dr. Cory Anderson, a CWD researcher at the University of Minnesota, explained that the disease exists ‘invariably fatal, incurable and highly contagious’ warning that it is almost impossible to eradicate it once it has infected an environment. Scientists have also noted that CWD is resistant to disinfectants, formaldehyde, radiation and combustion at 60°C, and can remain in dirt or on surfaces for years.
Last year, the disease was reportedly discovered in about 800 samples collected from deer, elk and elk in the state of Wyoming, according to Breanna Ball of the state’s Game and Fish Department. She told The Guardian that the infection rate was an increase on previous years.
Scientists are particularly concerned that the disease has apparently made its way into Yellowstone National Park in recent months. Former Chief of Animal Health for the US Federal Fish & Wildlife Service, Dr. Thomas Roffe, explained that the park’s ecosystem currently supports the largest and most diverse range of large wild mammals on the continent.
“It is a disease that has enormous ecological consequences,” Roffe said, noting that the failure to curb its spread means that millions of people who visit Yellowstone each year could soon see the effects of CWD for themselves.
A US Geological Survey published earlier this month claimed the disease is currently prevalent in 32 states and three Canadian provinces.
To date, no cases of CWD spreading among humans have been reported, even though an estimated 15,000 infected animals were consumed by humans in 2017, according to the Alliance for Public Wildlife.
However, epidemiologists in the US and Canada have warned that this may only be a matter of time as the disease is part of a cluster of fatal neurological disorders including the infamous mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
An outbreak of BSE in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s led to the slaughter of more than four million cattle and the deaths of 178 people who contracted the human variant of the disease, vCJD, from eating contaminated beef.
“We’re talking about the possibility that something similar could happen. No one is saying it will definitely happen, but it is important that people are prepared.” said Anderson.