Zombie Deer Disease a 'Slow Moving Disaster' for Humans, Scientists Warn

Scientists are warning the rare and fatal illness of deer, chronic wasting disease (CWD), is a "slow-moving disaster" for humans.

CWD or colloquially known as zombie deer disease was previously detected in Yellowstone National Park for the first time in November, sparking concerns among wildlife experts and conservationists. After running multiple diagnostic tests, the National Park Service confirmed the presence of the disease in an adult mule deer found near Yellowstone Lake. The deer was part of a population study by Wyoming's Game and Fish Department and had been fitted with a GPS collar. The disease which leaves animals drooling, lethargic, stumbling and with a blank stare, has been found in 800 samples of deer, elk and moose across Wyoming.

However, since Yellowstone's first CWD case, it has raised concerns that the fatal brain disease may someday spread to humans, according to some scientists.

Scientists have warned the disease was a "slow-moving disaster" and urged governments to prepare for the possibility of it spreading to humans, although no known case has ever been recorded.

"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," CWD researcher Dr. Cory Anderson told The Guardian.

Newsweek has reached out to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy via email for comment.

Anderson, a program co-director at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), continued to state the importance of being prepared in case the disease does spread to humans.

"We're talking about the potential of something similar occurring. No one is saying that it's definitely going to happen, but it's important for people to be prepared," Anderson added.

Fears surrounding animal-to-human diseases have only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Epidemics caused by some zoonotic infectious diseases - also known as spillovers - could occur more frequently in the future due to climate change and deforestation, US biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks said.

Researchers added that evidence from recent epidemics sparked by zoonotic spillovers suggested they "are not an aberration or random cluster" but follow "a multi-decade trend in which spillover-driven epidemics have become both larger and more frequent".

In addition, according to a BMJ Global Health study, the impact of COVID-19 and other contemporary epidemics on human health and livelihoods has highlighted the need to better understand trends in infectious disease spillover.

The study states that Zoonotic viral pathogens cause most modern epidemics, as they jump from wildlife or domesticated animals to humans through hunting, habitat encroachment, and intensive livestock farming, only furthering the fears of animal-to-human diseases.

The CWD has been found in animal populations in at least 31 U.S. states, Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden and South Korea, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There have been no reported cases of infection in humans, however, "because of the long time it takes before any symptoms of disease appear, scientists expect the [CWD transmission] study to take many years before they will determine what the risk, if any, of CWD is to people," the CDC said.

Symptoms can take up to a year to develop and some have dubbed it the "zombie deer disease" since it changes in the hosts' brains and nervous systems,

The CDC recommends that hunters remain cautious and test the deer or elk meat for CDW before consuming.