Photo Credit: Kansas Department of Wildlife, Park adn Tourism
Chronic wasting disease, also known as "zombie deer disease," is a type of prion disease that infects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. It is a neurodegenerative condition that spreads through direct and indirect contact with bodily fluids, waste, soil, water, and food. Although no cases have yet been reported in humans, recent cases of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in hunters who ate meat from deer infected with CWD have raised questions about whether the disease can jump the species barrier.