Infected animals eventually exhibit abnormal behavior and loss of control over bodily functions such as normal walking, normal eating, and coordination, leaving them often dead or unable to survive on their own.
When a deer is infected with CWD, it can lose the following fears for humans and other predators. These deer have other symptoms of illness such as emaciation, increased thirst and urination, tremors or lack of coordination, high-pitched noises and wide eyes.
It is these outward symptoms in animals that have led some to refer to CNS infections as ‘zombie disease’. Linking the infection to zombies is even more appropriate because deer can transmit the disease through animal-to-animal contact, especially in urine and saliva.
Deer herds in western parts of Canada are threatened by a strange, debilitating and highly contagious infectious disease like wildfire and causing a pandemic.
This outbreak is causing concern in two Canadian provinces: Alberta and Saskatchewan, VICE World News reported.
Zombie disease and its consequences
According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), zoster disease is a prion disease that affects deer, elk, elk, sika deer, and reindeer. The disease can affect animals of any age and can be fatal. Currently, there is no treatment or vaccine for this disease.
When a deer becomes infected, it can lose its fear of humans and other predators. They may exhibit a number of other symptoms such as drooling, poor coordination, tripping, depression, paralysis, and behavioral changes. Because of these outward symptoms, people often refer to TKT as ‘zombie disease’, a fitting name in this case because the disease can be transmitted by animal-to-animal contact.
Origin and spread of zombie disease
Zombie disease was first detected in a deer kept in captivity at a US research facility in the late 1960s. And it is reported that the disease has spread in wild populations. in Colorado, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. And in Canada, the disease was first detected in 1996 on an elk farm in Saskatchewan. It then spread into wild populations. In 2005, the first case in Alberta was confirmed.
“Now, we’re looking at how children with disabilities are encroaching on the eastern fringes of Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary,“Margo Pybus, a researcher and wildlife disease specialist in the government’s fish and wildlife department, says VICE World News.
Manitoba reported its first case last year of zoster disease despite the fact that the infection is mainly found in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Are people at risk?
According to the CDC, humans can contract the disease if they consume an infected deer or elk. Hunters are especially susceptible to infection because infection can enter their bodies from improper handling of the carcass. They can even become infected by eating deer meat.
To date, no cases of TKT have been reported in humans. However, the CDC has recommended testing deer before consumption and not eating the meat if the results are positive.
Source: Medindia
