Sure. Essentially it is a nervous system infection brought on by eating infected meat products. It eats away your brain (simplified) and with TIME, can result in some weird symptoms (like you have altzheimers, et al) Mad Cow is a version of it (for cows) chronic wasting is what it is in deer. There is a human version of it, but it is believed that CWD cannot cross the species barrier IN GENERAL until late in one's life (over 60). There is a version of it that targets those in their teens, very rare though. Don't eat brains, don't eat anything that might have come into contact with the contents of the spinal cord or brain.
So it's like mad cow disease that you get from deer? I thought it was a way of making fun of consumers...
Up here in Wisconsin, we have an outbreak of CWD in the deer herd. I just want to point out a few things about deer... 1). CWD has been around for decades in herds out west. 2). There has been NO cases of CWD transfered to humans. 3). Deer with rabies (I've NEVER seen or heard of it here!) would die off in the wild.... 4). Deer is the safest, best tasting meat walking this Earth IMO!!! I have been hunting and eating deer my entire life. Up here, it's a way of life. I have never worried about CWD or Lyme's... Just my 2 cents... SwampRat
This is an important question. Cooking can kill rabies virus but animals die quickly in the wild from rabies. Found out from a State Game guy when asked about rabies in road killed foxes (for pelt recovery purposes) that rabies virus is only active for about 45 minutes after death of animal. CWD on the otherhand is a prion disease. Prions are wierd in that they are not actually alive. They are an altered protien that changes other protiens it comes in contact with. It cannot be killed by cooking the meat. Can only be destroyed by intense heat like they use to incinerate carcasses that are contaminated with it. Mad Cow can be contracted by humans if meat that has been contaminated by spinal material which can easily occur in butchering or various cuts of meat include spinal material (T-bone steaks come to mind). The cases in England involved ground meat which can include just about anything. So far, this disease has only been found in ruminants (deer, sheep, cows) and primates (man, apes, monkeys, etc.) A very strange and scary thing. They are still not completely sure how animals spread it among themselves.
Don't forget, elk have CWD also. Here in Colorado, take the head of your animal to DOW, they will test it, if it has the disease they will issue you another tag. The DOW here has a very good handle on what game units have produced animals with CWD, I only try to draw from areas that do not have it.
Cervid's in general have had this in some form since they been here, its in this state. We have deer here and the elk which have been ( imported from out west ) its here alright. I have been deboning all my deer for over 15 years, cause it tastes better without all the bone dust. My bro served 8 years in the Airforce, in England and 2 in Germany. He eats all his meat red and bloody. He can't give blood in the USA, that's a fact of life. Prions if i spelled right, can,t be burned outa the soil dump them in raw bleach and those little suckers still live. They are here to stay as long as we are, ireckon.
My understanding of CWD is that the danger of transfer to humans (like Mad cow from beef) comes from eating the spine and or brain. This is why I debone all the meat from my deer. I never saw through the spine and if the spine or brain is damaged by a bullet I leave that entire damaged area OUT of the venison for consumption. Lyme disease is 100% real tick born and DEADLY serious. I have it. My wife nearly died from it. If you have a tick bite insist on at elast a 2 day dose of doxycline. This will kill Lyme disease in the early stages. The longer it is left untreated the harder it is to get rid of. Left untreated it WILL kill you. If treated after ignoring it for weeks, it will take MONTHS of misery to recover from.
Good point Mike. We NEVER cut through the spine or use the brains. If the deer is shot in the spine, leave the meat in the entire area alone and learn to shoot better! We take the hind roasts, straps, loins and debone the rest. Never had a problem with ticks. I have heard they are more active in the summer and we hunt in the fall/winter...don't know for sure...
You can not kill it with heat or bleach period. They tested the ground after burning the remains of dead deer with this and it was still in the burned scorched soil. The only way to avoid this is not to eat the spinal or brain area of even healthy looking animals. I like tree rat brains but since this showed up i eat nothing pertaining to that area of any animal. Large or small if in a famine thing that might change who knows what is coming around the bend.
A lot of intentional mis-information has become 'fact' over this disease over the years. CWD, BSE (Mad Cow), Creutzfeld-Jacob (humans), Scapie (sheep), Manganese Madness, Kuru in New Guinea..... All the same disease, in different species. Called TSE. Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. But the "Transmissable" theory has never been proven, and never will. The disease has to do with your environment. Basically heavy metals taking the place of the correct mineral at the molecular level. When that happens, you have a mal-funtioning molecule. Continue the process long enough and you get an entire section of your brain mal-funtioning. British Big Pharma drove the infectious feed BS down the worlds throat in the 80's to cover up there own liability. Massive doses of pesticides on cows, and heavy-metal laden feed. Just think for a minute. CWD was found in E. CO decades ago. If it were as contagious as they say it would have spread across the country very rapidly, but it doesn't. Check the dispersion of CWD in CO, it just happens to be down-wind of some major industry. Coincidence? Why don't wolves and yotes get it from eating infected deer in that area? In other areas that it has been found, there are large geographical gaps in between. How does it get from CO to WI or Saskatchewan, but not in between? The best sight to visit for more information is form the late Mark Purdey. Mark Purdey - Seeking the truth through Science
I know last year Ontario was CWD free. This is good news. I know some guys around here use the brains for brain tan.
Some squirrel hunters in WV got a variant from eating squirrel brains. It was discovered in the south Pacific a long time age among tribes who practiced ritual cannibalism. They ate the brain of the enemy for some reason. Hmmm. Could there be an organic explanation for Zombies?
