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Chronic wasting disease in Iowa: What you need to know
Chronic wasting disease has been present in deer in Iowa since 2013. These steps can help reduce spread.
With the first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Georgia, here’s what the The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has to say about the disease.
What is Chronic Wasting Disease?
Chronic Wasting Disease is a progressive, fatal disease that affects the brain, spinal cord and many other tissues of farmed and free-ranging deer, elk, and moose. The CDC states that CWD is a prion disease or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Other TSEs include bovine spongiform encephalopathy or “mad cow disease” in cattle and scrapie in sheep and goats.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission say that the following can spread CWD:
- Live deer, including newborn fawns
- Anything containing brain, spinal cord, nerves or lymph nodes
They also ask NC residents to avoid placing out food for wildlife, as the regular gathering of deer to feeding locations can increase the risk of CWD transmission.
In Georgia, the disease was found in a hunter-harvested deer in Lanier County. The male white-tailed deer was two-and-a-half years old. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is taking steps to manage the disease and ensure the health of the deer herd. The DNR has implemented the CWD response plan and is establishing a CWD Management area. The area includes Lanier County and any county that touches a 5-mile radius around the location of a positive sample.
How can you tell if a deer has wasting disease? What does a deer with CWD look like?
CWD earned the nickname “zombie deer disease” for its unsettling associated symptoms. The NCWRC’s list of these symptoms includes:
- Listlessness or showing little interest in their surroundings.
- Frequent lowering of the head.
- Drooling and grinding of teeth.
- Drinking lots of water and urinating frequently.
While symptoms eventually become obvious, the NCWRC explained that it is impossible to tell whether a deer has CWD by observation alone, as the disease has a long incubation period with symptoms that may not become apparent for 16 months or more after infection.
CWD has been detected in the northwestern and southeastern regions of North Carolina according to the NCWRC which checks thousands of deer for CWD yearly to monitor the presence of the disease. In the fall of 2023, for example, they collected 36,146 samples from wild cervids, and detected 13 positive results after testing 98% of these samples. Positive results were from counties where CWD-positive deer had previously been identified: Cumberland, Surry, Stokes and Yadkin counties.
Is CWD possible in humans? What is the human equivalent of CWD?
Though there have been no cases of CWD observed in humans, there is a human TSE. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is often called the human form of mad cow disease, and presents as rapidly presenting dementia.
CJD is rare but fatal. The UK NHS lists possible symptoms including loss of intellect and memory, changes in personality, loss of balance and coordination, slurred speech, vision problems and blindness, abnormal jerking movements and progressive loss of brain function and mobility. CJD usually causes fatality within a year of the symptoms’ onset.
And, while there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans, the CDC has stated that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain
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Sources 2/ https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2025/01/28/what-to-know-about-chronic-wasting-disease-in-north-carolina/77956735007/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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