MDC reports halfway mark on results of deer samples being tested for CWD

[SpoonDog]

For the exact same reason your doctor doesn't prescribe every available medication, all at once, just in case- it's an overreaction.  Instead of killing as many deer as possible everywhere, MDC's approach appears to be finding where the disease actually occurs and managing it there. 

 

I don't know how having more folks killing and eating more infected deer would lower the chances of hunters getting sick.  My own experience, and that of every nurse or daycare teacher I've ever met, is that increased exposure doesn't decrease the risk of infection.

[fishinwrench]

Well does cooking and eating the meat of an infected deer pose a risk ?  Surely they at least know that by now.

[MOPanfisher]

Whether or not CWD is identified in the area I hunt, if I see or kill a deer that is obviously sick, I am not gonna eat it, I will report it to MDC in case they was any samples, assuming I can't find anything else wrong with it such as evidence of a wound.

 

This is cut/paste from CDC 

CWD can be highly transmissible within deer and elk populations. The mode of transmission is not fully understood, but evidence supports the possibility that the disease is spread through direct animal-to-animal contact or as a result of indirect exposure to prions in the environment (e.g., in contaminated feed and water sources). Several epidemiologic studies provide evidence that, to date, CWD has not been transmitted to humans. Additionally, routine surveillance has not shown any increase in the incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cjd/index.html) in Colorado or Wyoming.

Specific studies have begun that focus on identifying human prion disease in a population that is at increased risk for exposure to potentially CWD-infected deer or elk meat. Because of the long time between exposure to CWD and the development of disease, many years of continued follow-up are required to be able to say what the risk, if any, of CWD is to humans.

[fishinwrench]

Overpopulation of any animal (humans included) invites disease, they have known that for over a decade.  There is what I would call a definite deer population issue in the area where I live so if they end up with a disease I wouldn't be surprised at all.   I hate to admit it but I actually hope they do because they have become a nuisance and a hazard, and I'd like to see 80% of them gone. 

[Johnsfolly]

We saw this guy standing within one of the fencerows along the property at my work. He was obviously not well since he showed little fear to us standing within 30 yards of him. He kept licking his lips and shaking his tail. I had my wife bring over my bow (my business owns 56 acres and is surrounded by a several hundred acre farm to the north and east). I was hung up in meetings until after 5:30 and could not due to the darkness go out and try to hit him with a mercy arrow. At the time we thought he was either shot (bow or gun) or hit by a car since we are within a stone's throw of I-70. Got out the next morning and found him dead within 25 feet of where we saw him the afternoon before. No blood was seen anywhere around him. We tagged him and I was planning on trying to salvage what meat I could. His chest cavity had blood in it and one of his lungs had lacerations and one lobe was almost in half. So I'm thinking about bullet fragments or an arrow. Did not see and entrance or exit wound with his skin on. Took him home and skinned him. There was no evidence of a man made injury anywhere on this deer. His ribs were all intact and there was no bruising to indicate a car collision or a deadly buck fight (this was during the peak of the rut in Nov). We took the head over to MDC to sample and put the rest in our municipal trash. Even though there is little evidence of infection of humans with either CWD or EHD, we did not chance it. We have not heard back from the MDC on this deer. My suspicion is EHD based upon the lacerations or hemorrhaging of the lungs. We'll see. I am getting a European mount of the head.

[SpoonDog]

4 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Well does cooking and eating the meat of an infected deer pose a risk ?  Surely they at least know that by now.

To my knowledge heat (<300 deg F) doesn't deactivate prions.  The good news is they're only found in nervous tissue, so if you don't eat the brains, and you don't shoot 'em in the spine, and you don't butcher them with a saw, you might be fine.

 

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Overpopulation of any animal (humans included) invites disease, they have known that for over a decade.  There is what I would call a definite deer population issue in the area where I live so if they end up with a disease I wouldn't be surprised at all.   I hate to admit it but I actually hope they do because they have become a nuisance and a hazard, and I'd like to see 80% of them gone. 

CWD's been reported in Missouri counties with high deer populations and Arkansas counties with low populations, and in CO and WY with deer populations of <1 animal per square mile.  Part of the reason CWD's so dangerous is it doesn't have anything to do with population size or animal density, that it's just as likely to kill an otherwise healthy deer as it is a sick one.  It isn't a bacteria or virus and I'm not aware of any research suggesting animals can build resistance to the protein involved. 

I'm pretty ambivalent about deer and I agree we could do with a lot fewer, but the fact is CWD is fairly new and we simply don't know whether it'd kill 10% of the population or 100%.  That's why basic research documenting its range, its spread, and its lethality is so dang important. 

[Jerry Rapp]

educate me.   What causes CWD?

[MOPanfisher]

http://cwd-info.org/faq

 

[Jerry Rapp]

50 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

http://cwd-info.org/faq

 

thanks, I guess.  But it doesn't really say what causes it, unless I missed it.  Maybe it has been around forever and now we need to "study" it more?  How many people eat deer, moose, or elk brains?  Or elf brains for that matter!  LOL!

[MOPanfisher]

The most widely accepted theory is that the agent is a prion, an abnormal form of cellular protein that is most commonly found in the central nervous system and in lymphoid tissue. The prion “infects” the host animal by promoting conversion of normal cellular protein to the abnormal form.

 

The CWD infectious agent is smaller than most viral particles and does not evoke any detectable immune response or inflammatory reaction in the host animal. Based on experience with other TSE agents, the CWD infectious agent is assumed to be resistant to enzymes and chemicals that normally break down proteins, as well as resistant to heat and normal disinfecting procedures.