Posted on 04/23/2024 1:57:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Scientists fear that two hunters died after eating infected meat sparking panic of a mad cow disease rerun.
Two hunters have died amid fears they contracted the so-called “zombie deer disease” after eating infected meat.
The US pair died soon after eating deer meat which scientists believe carried chronic wasting disease (CWD).
by TaboolaSponsored Link This Simple Trick Will Block All Ads On Your Windows Safer Online Tips Now it’s sparked panic that the disease could pass from deer to humans as they both developed similar neurological symptoms as seen in animals.
The disease has been nicknamed “zombie deer disease” as infected deer give a telltale blank stare. It attacks the brain and nervous system, leaving animals drooling, lethargic, stumbling and wasting away.
Experts are worried that it could be a rerun of mad cow disease which also infected humans in the 90s.
Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have examined the hunters' deaths in 2022. Their findings suggest the disease may already be spreading from animals to humans.
In a report published in the journal Neurology, they said: "The patient’s history, including a similar case in his social group, suggests a possible novel animal-to-human transmission of CWD."
According to The Sun, one of the victims discussed was a 72-year-old man who suffered "rapid-onset confusion and aggression" as well as seizures and died within a month despite treatment. The hunter's friend also died from the disease but few details about his condition were given - nor was their location.
CWD has been reported in deer, elk, reindeer and moose in areas of North America, Canada and South Korea as well as Norway.
The disease is part of a family of fatal neurological infections which includes Bovine spongiform encephalopathy – which is more commonly known as mad cow disease.
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Dr Cory Anderson from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) said the mad cow outbreak in Britain suggested animal-to-human infection could happen.
He told The Guardian: "We’re talking about the potential of something similar occurring.
"No one is saying that it’s definitely going to happen, but it’s important for people to be prepared."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said studies on the disease have suggested a spillover is possible after observing infections in non-human primates, such as monkeys after they consumed meat from infected animals.
The organisation's website reads: "These studies raise concerns that there may also be a risk to people.
"Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain."
What happens when we get mad cricket disease?
I remember the issue was prions. Something even smaller than a virus. Basically a chemical that causes the brain to start making copies until it makes the victims crazy.
CWD is now endemic to most deer and antelope herds in colorado ... i now refuse to eat ANY wild game of any type ...
Or it could not.
So...I’m guessing it’s OK to hunt in the Sheriff of Nottingham’s private forest now?
Don’t all the deer in England belong to the King anyhow?
A prion is a protein that is misfolded.
The proteins that can be misfolded into a prion form are present in everyone. But they are folded correctly. In the vast majority of people, they will never misfold.
I think that some mutations make the protein more likely to misfold. And the misfolding is contagious, as if proteins are using misfolded proteins as a folding guide.
When these proteins are misfolded, they can no longer be enzymatically destroyed by the cell. Most proteins are destroyed within hours of being made. But the prions just stick around. This probably has something to do with the pathogenic process.
Where’s the oh, noes guy?
I am not sure how to destroy them.
I once talked to a man selling a very high-tech biochemical analyzer. I told him I was not in a position to buy and had no immediate need for it, but he still wanted to talk. And one of the things he told me was that a research institute had purchased one of the analyzers in order to study prion proteins. After the study, they elected to destroy the machine since there is no good way to sterilize it after using it for prions. This was a half-million dollar analyzer. I do not know, in the years since, if adequate methods to sterilize equipment after prion exposure have been developed. Simply autoclaving equipment doesn’t do the job.
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Paging Ted Nugent!
Do they walk around saying , “ BRAINS BRAINS BRAINS “
Mad Cow Disease. Zombie Deer Disease.
We’re living in a Monty Python epidode.
You can eat wild venison 3 times a day and the chance of you being killed in a car hitting a deer is thousands of times higher. STOP DRIVING NOW OR YOU WILL DIE!!
I almost hit a Moose but I was driving a 1974 GMC Jimmy and the Moose ran away
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