What’s killing our deer all over the world? A scary story.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

A transmissible neurogenerative disease caused by a prion, a type of abnormally folded protein molecule that is contagious, is affecting cervids. Cervids include deer, reindeer, sika deer, moose, elk. These animals have been hit by a prion disease called Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), that is spreading across the country. It’s been found in 26 states and in three provinces in Canada. It’s also spread to South Korea, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The number of cases has exploded in the last few years. This disease is known as a spongiform encephalopathy and is similar to Mad Cow Disease, human CKJD, scrapie in sheep and Kuru in a tribe in Papua. CWD causes extreme neurological damage before leading to the death of the affected animal or person. I hope our Florida deer have not been hit yet and that the stumbling recently seen baby Florida panthers has not been caused by consumption of infected deer. According to experts monitoring the spread of the disease in cervids worldwide, it hasn’t been seen in a Florida deer yet, but it’s spreading so rapidly, so who knows.

Despite most states requiring hunters to have their deer kills monitored for the presence of CWD , some hunters are consuming their deer meat. I hope they do not end up with this disease. In humans, this type of disease can have a long incubation period, with as long as fifty years seen in Fore tribe members affected by Kuru in Papua, New Guinea and twenty years for humans affected by a Mad Cow Disease from consumption of infected beef in a Great Britain. Symptoms include tremors, neurodegeneration leading to holes in the brain, thus the term spongiform, loss of coordination and death.

MoonieBaby · ‎07-19-2013

HUMANS and POLLUTION are KILLING everything.

WE ARE SQUARELY responsible for th decay of the planet.

mousiegirl · ‎03-09-2010

@Mindy D Horrible! I have deer all around me in N. Ca.,, hate to think of this happening to them.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

@MoonieBaby wrote:
HUMANS and POLLUTION are KILLING everything.
WE ARE SQUARELY responsible for th decay of the planet.

In this case, the causal factors leading to the misfolding of proteins is unknown. So far, this phenomenon is only just beginning to be understood.

cherry · ‎03-09-2010

They also carry ticks and they are very dangerous for human health

mousiegirl · ‎03-09-2010

@Mindy D wrote:
@MoonieBaby wrote:
HUMANS and POLLUTION are KILLING everything.
WE ARE SQUARELY responsible for th decay of the planet.
In this case, the causal factors leading to the misfolding of proteins is unknown. So far, this phenomenon is only just beginning to be understood.

@Mindy D I wonder if spraying vegetation which the deer ingest has any link, except it seems to be contagious so doubt it.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

@mousiegirl wrote:
@Mindy D wrote:
@MoonieBaby wrote:
HUMANS and POLLUTION are KILLING everything.
WE ARE SQUARELY responsible for th decay of the planet.
In this case, the causal factors leading to the misfolding of proteins is unknown. So far, this phenomenon is only just beginning to be understood.

@Mindy D I wonder if spraying vegetation which the deer ingest has any link, except it seems to be contagious so doubt it.

This would be improbable since this is disease is affecting reindeer above the arctic circle. These animals migrate and most of their established territories are not sprayed with anything. It’s unknown if any toxin has caused the misfolding of proteins. How proteins misfold has only recently been explained. Toxins could play a part in prion disease. It is known that eating the nerves and brain tissue from infected animals causes transmission. Cows were being fed ground up parts from cow nervous tissue and that started the Mad Cow disease outbreak. When humans ate any part of an affected cow, they got sick (in the UK). In Papua, the Fore Tribe were cannibals and they ritually ate small parts of the bodies of their dead relatives. They also handled the bodies. The dead had Kuru from eating other dead. The parts of the nervous system is where the prions were. Women and children were more affected than the men because they handled the sick and prepared bodies for funeral rites and they ingested the body parts. In human CKJD, this prion disease just pops up out of nowhere. Individuals become sick without ingesting any known prion contaminated food. So far, no toxins have been found to account for this. One poster on this forum posted about a relative with CKJD. In scapie, which affects goats and sheep, only goats and sheep can get it from other goats and sheep. Goat and sheep farmers do not become sick. Ingestion of goat meat by humans does not result in transmission. The goats and sheep do not need to ingest parts of other goats or sheep. When an animal has scrapie, it’s quarantined and then killed. It can appear in flocks and appear spontaneously even in flocks where no previous scrapie cases have occurred. The mechanism of transmission is still unknown with scrapie but recently some researchers have noted that urine could be spreading this and that the urine can remain in the environment for years. It’s been written about since the early 1700’s. It gets its common name from one of its symptoms. Affected animals itch and then scrape against rocks, fences, anything to stop their skin from itching. The animals gaits are wobbly, they repeatedly smack their lips together and they collapse when walking. They also have missing fur in patchy areas on their hinds from rubbing to stop the itching.

By the way, prions are not inactivated by cooking. I believe there has been a temperature found that is high enough to inactivate them but I can not remember where I read about this.