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Two hunters may have become the first Americans to die from a 'zombie deer' disease. Experts have been warning for years that the nearly 100 percent fatal chronic wasting disease (CWD) - which leaves deer confused, drooling, and unafraid of humans - could jump from animals to people. But a new study theorizes that it has already happened - in two hunters who died in 2022 after eating contaminated venison. One of the victims, a 72-year-old man, suffered 'rapid-onset confusion and aggression,' as well as seizures. He died within a month.

Scientists are sounding the alarm over the spread of “zombie deer disease” amid fears it may evolve to infect humans. Late last year, experts confirmed Yellowstone National Park’s first case of the infection — officially known as chronic wasting disease — after a deer carcass found in the Wyoming area of the park tested positive for the highly contagious disease. Now, cases have been reported in deer, elk and moose in 33 states across the US, as well as in Canada, Norway and South Korea. The disease “damages portions of the brain and typically causes progressive loss of body condition,...

A fatal so-called 'zombie' disease swiftly spreading in the United States and Canada among deer, elk and moose might put humans at risk if they eat diseased venison. Chronic wasting disease causes elk and deer to stop eating and behave in confused ways as their brains are turned into sponges by abnormal proteins. The slowly incubating disease, which leaves microscopic holes in an animal's brain, is caused by prions. They are the same rogue proteins that caused bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in Britain in the 1980s. About 200 people in the Britain and Europe died of prion-based...

A deadly disease that has affected the deer population in an estimated 24 states and two Canadian provinces could eventually spread to and infect humans, experts warn. Speaking at the Minnesota State Capitol last week, experts from the University of Minnesota told lawmakers of the dangers of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), or what the U.S. Geological Survey describes as a “ fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose.” MINNESOTA WILDLIFE OFFICIALS SHOOT MULE DEER EXHIBITING ‘STRANGE BEHAVIOR’Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments available for the disease, which...

A deadly disease that has affected the deer population in an estimated 24 states and two Canadian provinces could eventually spread to and infect humans, experts warn. Experts from the University of Minnesota told lawmakers of the dangers of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), or what the U.S. Geological Survey describes as a “ fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose.” Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments available for the disease, which scientists say spreads directly through animal-to-animal contact but also indirectly through contaminated drinking water...

Would you eat venison if there was a chance it could slowly eat away at your brain? If there's a slight possibility, it doesn't bother Patrick States. On the menu this evening for his wife and two daughters at their Northglenn, Colo., home are pan-seared venison steaks with mashed potatoes and a whiskey cream sauce. "We each have our specialty, actually," says States as the steak sizzles. "The girls made elk tamales this morning, but we use [venison or elk] in spaghetti, chili, soup, whatever." The States take pride in skipping the butcher counter at the grocery store. The red...

Deer are generally considered one of the more benign creatures of the forest, going about their herbivorous ways in peace. But as new research shows, there’s a dark side to these ungulates. Using camera traps, forensic scientists have captured unprecedented photos of deer munching on the skeletal remains of a human carcass. “Herein, we report on the first known photographic evidence of deer gnawing human remains,” write the Texas State University researchers in their new study, which can be found in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. On its own, this behavior is noteworthy enough, but the finding could prove useful...