Time to fear the deer?
CJD, CWD and other prion diseases are resulting from a misfolded version of the harmless prion protein.
But once they do, death soon follows.
A whitetail deer looks for food in the woods in the Wyomissing Parklands of Pennsylvania.Photo: Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle (Getty Images)
The mad cow epidemic and resulting vCJD (the variant form) outbreaks wereultimately containedby improved food safety practices.
They also called for more research to be done to investigate this possibility.
By contrast, vCJD cases due to infected beef tend to occur in much younger people.
Haigh doesnt rule out the chances of CWD transmission to humans entirely.
But right now, judging from both their research and others, shes not too worried.
We do think that, currently, the risk of CWD spreading to humans is low, she said.
As for the recent report, Haigh minces no words about her opinion on it.
Personally, I thought it was fear-mongering.
I dont think they presented anything that would make people in the field worried, she said.
The conclusion from that presentation was there remain no proven cases of transmission to date, Taylor added.
So yes, if youre a venison lover, theres no immediate need to cut down on your habit.
Just ensure to properlycook it.
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