|
What is CWD?
CWD is Chronic Wasting Disease. It is a term used to discribe a condition occurring in deer, elk, and other animals in which a renegade protien (called a prion) replicates itself, moves to the brain and causes a spongiform encephalopathy. The spongiform encephalopathy is usually a condition that appears as vacuoles (holes)in the brain. Animals exhibit neurodegenerative disorders and quickly die as the disease reaches the brain.
^ back to top
Is it safe to eat the meat of an animal with CWD?
It is not recommended that you eat the meat from an animal that has CWD. Although there has never been a proven link between CWD and neurodegenerative diseases in humans, that possibility exists. The Health Department recommends that you have your deer tested for CWD prior to consuming the animal. Should it be found to have the disease it is recommended that you contact the health department as to where you can dispose of the animal.
^ back to top
Are food pantries in the counties still giving away deer?
Yes, most are. Since it has not been proven that there is a link between CWD and CJD, most have decided to continue to distribute the deer. Should a link be found or other health issues arise, the Health Department will most certainly discuss cautions with the pantries. Perhaps having a waiver form signed will be all that is necessary.
^ back to top
Some say we are over reacting to CWD. What do you think?
As a hunter, a biologist, and health specialist, it is a difficult question to answer. The decision has to be a personal one. We really don't have any definitive proof that consuming animals with CWD can cause neurological disorders. However, there are some real concerns.
First, no one is certain quite yet whether other neurological disorders may also be caused by this same process in which a protien, and not a virus or other genetic organism, is involved. All the hype has been with attempts to link CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) with CWD because of what happend with Mad Cow Disease in the U.K. In addition, persons like to point out that the same disease recognized in the U.K., new variant CJD, has not been linked to eating deer or other animals in the US. It is possible that we are being short sited in our monitoring. Being genetic material and repicated by our own cells, there may be other variations we aren't even aware of.
CWD causing prions in deer could potentially cause some other neurological disorder in humans other than (new variant) CJD. For that matter, there may be other prions responsible. Researchers are currently looking at other unexplained neurological diseases to see whether prions are also involved. Because they cause similar changes in the brain, and the modes of occurance are similar, it is highly likely that they are. There are similarities between the prion diseases and other degenerative diseases. They can occur sporatically (strike people at random), possibly inherited, and transmissible from one person to another, from animal to animal, and animal to man. So far, they all are aparently age related with about 80 percent of CJD cases occurring in persons over 60. Forms of this disease create a destructive condition in the brain. This discovery may lead to an entire new science as we know it today. As with any other important breakthrough in science and the understanding of disease, we may come to regret things we do today.
For all of you science and biology buffs out there, I encourage you to read anything and everything you can about Dr. Stanley Pruisner and his work. The best paper I have found can be seen at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?... For a brief, more scientific paper on prions, see http://www.inprobiotech.com/prion/
^ back to top
|
