After COVID, is 'zombie deer disease' the new pandemic humans should be wary about?

You must be familiar with zombie illness in humans but not in animals, right? But in a recent development, hundreds of animals in the US are being affected by a “zombie deer disease.” The condition is a “slow-moving disaster,” according to experts, and governments should get ready in case it spreads to humans. Let’s take a closer look. The zombie deer disease The deadly and infectious chronic wasting disease (CWD), also known as “zombie deer disease,” affects cervids, which are deer, elk, caribou, reindeer, and moose, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The neurological symptoms of the disease, which include weight loss, lack of coordination, lethargic behaviour, listlessness, and drooling, can make an infected deer termed a “zombie deer,” as per USA Today. As NDTV explained, it is brought on by a protein called a prion that is flawed and builds up in the brain and other tissues, leading to emaciation, behavioural and physiological abnormalities, and finally death. The US Geological Survey claims that CWD was first detected in Colorado in 1967 and has since spread to several other states and nations. Transmission The condition may take more than a year to incubate, and symptoms may take time to appear. Animals can contract it directly from one another or indirectly by coming into contact with infected particles that linger in the environment, such as soil, plants, or excrement. They can also contract the infection if prions carrying the infection contaminate an animal’s feed or pasture. There is currently no vaccination or cure for CWD. Rising cases in America In recent times, Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park reported the first incidence of the disease in a two-year-old white-tailed deer that a hunter had killed in November, according to New York Post. Since then, the disease has been found in 800 samples of the state’s moose, elk, and deer. 31 American states have recorded cases of the disease, according to the CDC. As per USA Today, outside of North America, reports of chronic wasting disease have been reported in moose and reindeer in Norway, Finland, and Sweden. A small number of imported cases were also detected in South Korea. Three Canadian provinces have also reported cases of CWD. “A slow-moving disaster” Fox News reports that there has never been a reported case of CWD in a human. Nonetheless, some scientists are warning governments to get ready in case of CWD breakouts. ‘‘The mad cow disease outbreak in Britain provided an example of how, overnight, things can get crazy when a spillover event happens from, say, livestock to people. We’re talking about the potential of something similar occurring. No one is saying that it’s going to happen, but people need to be prepared,’’ CWD researcher Dr Cory Anderson told The Guardian. The fact that there is currently no known way to eradicate it, “neither from the animals it infects nor the environment it contaminates,” he added, is worrisome. According to some studies, monkeys who consume contaminated meat or come into contact with contaminated animal brains or bodily fluids may get chronic wasting disease. CDC wrote on its website, ‘‘These studies raise concerns that there may also be a risk to people. Since 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain."