‘Zombie deer disease’ epidemic spreads in Yellowstone as scientists raise fears it may jump to humans
‘Zombie deer disease’ epidemic spreads in Yellowstone as scientists raise fears it may jump to humans
Warnings that ‘slow-moving disaster’ in North America raises chances of fatal mad cow-type disease jumping species barrier
Warnings that ‘slow-moving disaster’ in North America raises chances of fatal mad cow-type disease jumping species barrier
When the mule deer buck died in October, it perished in a place most humans would consider the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest road. But its last breaths were not taken in an isolated corner of American geography. It succumbed to a long-dreaded disease in the backcountry of Yellowstone national park, north-west Wyoming – the first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease in the country’s most famous nature reserve.
For years, chronic wasting disease (CWD), caused by prions – abnormal, transmissible pathogenic agents – has been spreading stealthily across North America, with concerns voiced primarily by hunters after spotting deer behaving strangely.
The prions cause changes in the hosts’ brains and nervous systems, leaving animals drooling, lethargic, emaciated, stumbling and with a telltale “blank stare” that led some to call it “zombie deer disease”. It spreads through the cervid family: deer, elk, moose, caribou and reindeer. It is fatal, with no known treatments or vaccines.
5 years or so ago I would be WTFing at this headline and sending the article to everyone. Now my reaction is just 'Yeah sure why the fuck not.'
Oh this has been cooking for much more than 5 years and really has been quite prevalent since the aughts. With deer's proclivity to scavenging the bodies and gut piles that hunters leave of other deer, as well as the fact that carrion birds that eat the corpses will let the prions spread right through their digestive system into the environment, its spread is inevitable.
My 2024 bingo card had world ending asteroids, but hey, zombies is fun.
Once an environment is infected, the pathogen is extremely hard to eradicate. It can persist for years in dirt or on surfaces, and scientists report it is resistant to disinfectants, formaldehyde, radiation and incineration at 600C (1,100F).
This has me wondering, what happens to prions in the environment, ultimately? Presumably they're nothing new, so if they're that hard to destroy, shouldn't they just have been building up in the environment ever since the first ones formed? Does something eat them, somehow?
Wildfires can reach temperatures of 800°C (1470°F)!
Good news: We destroyed the zombie prion. Bad news: Climate change is absolutely going to end us.
Wanted to double check if it really could spread to humans:
“This is the first study to show that the barrier for CWD prions to infect humans is not absolute and that there is an actual risk that it can transmit to humans,” says Dr. Sabine Gilch, PhD, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Prion Disease Research at UCVM
https://vet.ucalgary.ca/news/chronic-wasting-disease-may-transmit-humans-research-finds
Well fuck me.
Prions are a fucking nightmare. It's weird that at the end of day they're just misfolded proteins.
I'll rather become a zombie than getting TSE. (My best wishes to those that suffer it and their loved ones.)
I, for one, didn't have zombie apocalypse on my 2024 bingo card.
Novice...
Deer zombie apocalypse
Is this is how the zombie apocalypse starts? Deer disease?
Welp, there’s my nightmare fuel for the day. Already knew prions were damnably difficult to get rid of on surfaces etc, hadn’t co soldered that CWD could realistically make the jump to humans.
A grim thought: wouldn't the only way to deal with this effectively be... wiping out the dear population in an infected region?