That's a good article

I think it's probably already here. The incubation time is so long it could take a long time for it to be recognized in a herd.

In reading, it also sounds like soil stabilizes and makes the prions more infectious, which is some scary chit.

Yeah,its already here.

Maybe.

They either eat the meat and don't worry, or don't eat it.

No. The only tests are if the deer is dead.


The fact that research monkeys got CWD after eating meat infected with it is most concerning to me. CWD hasn't made the animal-to-human jump to anyone's knowledge but that monkey research IMO cannot be overlooked or ignored.

I'm sure this'll be a hot topic at the SEDSG meeting in a few weeks in Nashville.

No transmission to humans has ever been documented through meat consumption.

There are counties in other states where 50% of the deer have been positive for decades and you know some of that meat is getting consumed by hunters. I think it's likely I've consumed a cwd deer that I killed in Wisconsin 17 or 18 years ago.

Matt
You said CWD has been here since 1967. Where, how, and or why did it get here??

Not here. Not in AL. Colorado.

No, by here I was meaning US

Ok. It was first discovered in captive mule deer in Colorado. It’s origins are debatable.

This may be a useful link.

CWD Info

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/...about-spread-of-chronic-wasting-disease/ this is a little frightening to read seems like any where the infected deer would defecate the plants will uptake the prions and if another deer eats it become infected. Their not even sure it cant be spread to humans so even if you dont eat deer an infected animal could get in your vegetable garden and infect the soil then the plant will uptake the prion you eat it you run risk of infection. They know so little about it im wondering what about spreading to livestock? They used to think scrapie from sheep couldnt jump to cattle then later said they thing cattle got MCD from eating feed with sheep protein, then said it couldnt spread from cattle to humans and were proved wrong again in europe.

Gkelly, there is a lot of speculation (unproven) that CWD is a mutated scrapie prion deer got from infected sheep in the Rocky Mountains.

Just like they think the cows got it in europe they wont tell us about human infection until its too late to avoid a panic. takes 30-40 years to surface in humans so it will be a long time before we actually know. Whats scary is even if you dont eat the meat a deer can infect the soil and plants readily uptake it then you get it from your turnip patch

The uptake by plants is the scary stuff. So grain grown in the Midwest may have it when it's shipped to be made into various products we eat.

Including the supplemental feed most managed clubs put out for the deer. But hey something is gonna kill us all one day. It takes 30 or 40 years in humans so makes you wonder how many people may already have it.

Damn that’s scary.

Aw chit, something gonna kill us all. More likely that biscuit from the gas station gonna get ya than some prion disease. Carry on sportsmen.

CWD is an inevitability here in AL as much as I hate to say it. We basically have the Colorado department of fish and game to thank for CWD as they believe Scrapie "jumped" species and infected a captive deer herd that they had.

The problem with CWD, and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE's) is that the prions that cause them are nearly indestructible. These prions (pronounced "pre-ons" NOT "pri-ons") are misshapen proteins which aggregate in the brain and nervous tissues, eventually causing the progressive - and fatal - disease. Prions seem to be very tenacious and exceptionally hard to destroy in comparison to other proteins, which can be denatured with things like bleach, etc. Additionally, and very oddly, when these prions come into contact with clay particles - yes a constituent in most dirts - their infectious ability is greatly increased. So, when an infected deer pees, poops, drools, etc, that ground is contaminated and can infect other deer. You can see where this goes. For these reasons many states have outlawed deer "lures" made from actual deer urine (Arkansas for example) due to the risk of spreading CWD. It didn't work for AR, as CWD is already in the NW corner of the state--many think it came in via transplanted elk (it can affect all ungulates).

So, what does this mean for the future of whitetail hunting (mule deer seem to not be as effected)? I don't know. However, I believe it will not be good for the whitetail centric hunting industry if there's a significant chance that the deer you take has CWD which in turn will result in less license sales.

As of yet, it doesn't seem to effect humans, however I feel confident that there WILL BE a negative impact on revenue generated from hunting licenses which will in turn effect conservation efforts by state agencies as a whole.

If you're interested in other cases of TSE's, search Crutchfeld-Jakobs (I think I spelled that correctly) disease. Also, there was a group of natives that ate their dead and they had very high instance of prion related deaths---which is odd, because many researchers think that mad cow disease resulted from feeding cows food made from other cows. Maybe it's natures way of saying don't eat your own species?

Ok, my dissertation is over...

$100 says we are trying to figure out how to weaponize this.

I got another thread going on it too. There is an education gap. Some of these guys trust TV and the internet more than they trust honest people just telling them how its gonna work out for their children or retirement.

Yes I know the difference in the two. It seems that there has been alot more interest in the EHD deer being
found this year than in years past. I figure the state thinks it could possibly be here already. We have had alot of EHD die off
in North Jackson and Southern Tennessee in the last 3 yrs.