Chronic wasting disease CWD in deer

[FreedomIsn'tFree]

If you suspect this disease it lies within the central nervous system. So I would debone the meat with the deer hanging. Never severe the spine or neck. Keep its head attached for throughout the whole processing of removal of the meat.
About five years ago this was a big concern in north east Alberta. It was not uncommon to discover a complete deer carcass in the forest. The hunter deboned it in the field.

I do the gutless cleaning and cut the head off last to send in for testing. I just got my Mule Buck yesterday and sent the head away today, so now I wait. 2 of the 3 Mule we got last year in the WMU 150 tested positive.

 

[DBeato]

Rogan did a podcast on this a couple of years ago and scared the crap out of me, part about deer pissing in a wheat field and it attaching to the wheat, possible transfer to human and other animals without ever eating a deer steak..

 

[Potashminer]

DBeato - so did this "Rogan" person, whomever that is/was, identify even one case, ever, where a human became infected from Chronic Wasting Disease, as passed among cervids?? Even one instance that it ever happened?? A similar disease - a TSE also caused by prions - was known to occur in sheep - scrapies - since early 1700's - even one case of a transfer to a human in 300 years??

 

[scott_r]

DBeato - so did this "Rogan" person, whomever that is/was, identify even one case, ever, where a human became infected from Chronic Wasting Disease, as passed among cervids?? Even one instance that it ever happened?? A similar disease - a TSE also caused by prions - was known to occur in sheep - scrapies - since early 1700's - even one case of a transfer to a human in 300 years??

Don't spoil the scary CGN doom and gloom stories!!

 

[savagelh]

Maybe I'm ignorant but I kill and eat a lot of deer and cwd doesn't worry me yet. In a way I hope I'm the first human case of cwd. Maybe they'll name it after me. I like to think I have lots of other issues to worry about.

 

[FishHog]

Maybe I'm ignorant but I kill and eat a lot of deer and cwd doesn't worry me yet. In a way I hope I'm the first human case of cwd. Maybe they'll name it after me. I like to think I have lots of other issues to worry about.

well if you don't mind holes forming in your brain and slowing losing your mind then I hope your first as well.
Actually I hope that never happens to anyone, but its a valid concern.

 

[Potashminer]

Not to totally ignore that there is also known to be a TSE that does occur in humans - but apparently totally unknown where it comes from - certainly nothing known to indicate if comes from exposure to cervids, sheep or whatever...

From Internet - Minnesota Department of Health: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare, 100% fatal, neurodegenerative brain disorder believed to be caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions. In most cases, CJD occurs sporadically, in persons with no known risk factors or inherited genetic mutations.

 

[FishHog]

DBeato - so did this "Rogan" person, whomever that is/was, identify even one case, ever, where a human became infected from Chronic Wasting Disease, as passed among cervids?? Even one instance that it ever happened?? A similar disease - a TSE also caused by prions - was known to occur in sheep - scrapies - since early 1700's - even one case of a transfer to a human in 300 years??

Seems like some uncalled for anger in your post, but,

Its Joe Rogan ( you have probably heard of him) and of course he identify one case ever where a human has become infected, since there hasn't been one confirmed yet.
But its a fact the prions can transfer into the soil, into a plant and back into a new deer host. Hopefully that is where it ends, but with the CDC advising against eating contaminated deer, I think I'll take their advice as I sure don't want to be first.

And who's to say that the human versions of prion disease didn't originate in deer or sheep 30 or 40 years ago?

Fact is they just don't know yet. If that makes you feel lucky enough to take your chances have at it. No one is stopping you, but I'm not that lucky and its an awful death that I'd like to avoid

 

[350 Mag]

Not to totally ignore that there is also known to be a TSE that does occur in humans - but apparently totally unknown where it comes from - certainly nothing known to indicate if comes from exposure to cervids, sheep or whatever...

From Internet - Minnesota Department of Health: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare, 100% fatal, neurodegenerative brain disorder believed to be caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions. In most cases, CJD occurs sporadically, in persons with no known risk factors or inherited genetic mutations.

I believe there was a study in U.K that concluded that people were infected by eating animals that were fed "other" animal parts/waste ground up into a protein meal.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/vcjd/facts

 

[Potashminer]

I believe there was a study in U.K that concluded that people were infected by eating animals that were fed "other" animal parts/waste ground up into a protein meal.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/vcjd/facts

I just read similar - from eating beef that had "mad cow disease" and resulted in a human disease now called vCJD - a variant of the "regular" CJD that humans known to get. Most common, apparently, to find "normal" CJD in older persons (over 60); many of the instances of vCJD found in much younger people (in their 20's).

Curious things - those "prions" - again from Internet - they are not alive, so can not be "killed". They can be reliably incapacitated ("de-natured") by several hours above 900 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. They are a protein, that has folded, and can be "infectious" - can cause neighbouring proteins to also fold - proteins are one of the "things" that do make up living things, but are not living things themselves.

 

[Potashminer]

Seems like some uncalled for anger in your post, but,

Its Joe Rogan ( you have probably heard of him) and of course he identify one case ever where a human has become infected, since there hasn't been one confirmed yet.
But its a fact the prions can transfer into the soil, into a plant and back into a new deer host. Hopefully that is where it ends, but with the CDC advising against eating contaminated deer, I think I'll take their advice as I sure don't want to be first.

And who's to say that the human versions of prion disease didn't originate in deer or sheep 30 or 40 years ago?

Fact is they just don't know yet. If that makes you feel lucky enough to take your chances have at it. No one is stopping you, but I'm not that lucky and its an awful death that I'd like to avoid

I had not heard of Joe Rogan, so looked him up on Internet - I think this is the guy? As described on Wikipedia: Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American comedian, podcast host, and mixed martial arts color commentator. He has also worked as a television host and an actor.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

One thing we need to be clear about is that cooking, even to very well done, won't even touch CWD prions.

A friend is a lead MNRF biology type. Thus far CWD has not invaded Ontario. (as of a few weeks back anyway) But it is only a matter of time. Most likely entry will be from Quebec in the Ottawa area. So heavy testing is ongoing there on the Ontario side. Also true of other possible entry points where deer can cross from infected areas.

 

[DBeato]

DBeato - so did this "Rogan" person, whomever that is/was, identify even one case, ever, where a human became infected from Chronic Wasting Disease, as passed among cervids?? Even one instance that it ever happened?? A similar disease - a TSE also caused by prions - was known to occur in sheep - scrapies - since early 1700's - even one case of a transfer to a human in 300 years??

you could go on youtube and watch, yes? No?

 

[mac100]

well if you don't mind holes forming in your brain and slowing losing your mind then I hope your first as well.
Actually I hope that never happens to anyone, but its a valid concern.

You don’t want this, because next thing you know you will be voting for Liberals in the next election

 

[the spank]

To be fair, banning baiting would not stop concentration of deer.
Growing Alfalfa, piling grain on the ground, leaking grain bins, and other normal agricultural practices leads to deer concentration.

Exactly!! To think baiting is a contributing factor is assinine. There is no baiting allowed in AB yet there continues to be CWD in the deer herds across the province. AB officials claim that it entered the province via farm raised SK deer.

 

[Potashminer]

Exactly!! To think baiting is a contributing factor is assinine. There is no baiting allowed in AB yet there continues to be CWD in the deer herds across the province. AB officials claim that it entered the province via farm raised SK deer.

We used to hunt Sask Zone 46 - west side of province - south of Lloyd a bit - the zone runs up against the Alberta border - since 1960's. CWD apparently appeared there in 1980's(?) - seem to remember that the zone might have been closed at least one season - a "deer eradication" was claimed to have been done there and on the Alberta side - at the time, was "common knowledge" that the disease had been released to the wild from a game farm in that area - I thought it was elk, but might have been deer that was being farmed - stock had been imported into Canada - the story was they were brought in from USA. I think that was more or less the start of CWD in deer in Western Canada.

In early Spring - like March - drive through rural Sask and see huge herds - many hundreds of animals in the same field - of whitetail together in any field or open hill side where the snow has melted a bit and they can find something to eat - just do not see herds like that except in the very end of Winter - pretty sure they are starving and desperate for any kind of feed - so would be a very prime opportunity for any contagious disease to spread among them. Seems there is some evidence that the source of the disease - the prions - may be spread through eye secretions, possibly saliva - within a carcass all the publications seem to warm about brain and spinal cord tissue and fluids - no mention of blood or other body waste as a potential carrier.

 

[mbogo3]

One thing we need to be clear about is that cooking, even to very well done, won't even touch CWD prions.

A friend is a lead MNRF biology type. Thus far CWD has not invaded Ontario. (as of a few weeks back anyway) But it is only a matter of time. Most likely entry will be from Quebec in the Ottawa area. So heavy testing is ongoing there on the Ontario side. Also true of other possible entry points where deer can cross from infected areas.

Quebec has the canned elk and red deer "hunts" so it's only a matter of time.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

BSE propagated in domestic livestock when the farmers (on advice from the food scientists) supplemented the feed with bone meal and ground up slaughterhouse meal. Yum. One infected animal's cerebral spinal fluid and nervous tissue spread and spread and spread. It was especially bad in UK and France. Try giving blood after answering Yes to some of their screening questions.

My wife worked for Ag Canada in the 90s when the veterenarians were culling entire elk farms. The enclosures were literal breeding grounds for the infections. Supposedly, wild cervids were nuzzling the penned ones and breathing in the infected snot particles. The culls were done with compensation, and tracing of movements between herds by ear tags made the work easier.

West Quebec has had some zones closed for deer hunting. https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/cwd-cervids...t-adult-white-tailed-deer-2019-09-06/?lang=en

Will I give up hunting because I could get sick? No more than give up because I could get zapped by lightning - or hit a cow loose on the highway enroute to go hunting - or get food poisoning at the town cafe - or have a rifle kaboom in my hands. Nope. Just take reasonable precautions and enjoy the outdoors.

 

[powdermaker]

We used to hunt Sask Zone 46 - west side of province - south of Lloyd a bit - the zone runs up against the Alberta border - since 1960's. CWD apparently appeared there in 1980's(?) - seem to remember that the zone might have been closed at least one season - a "deer eradication" was claimed to have been done there and on the Alberta side - at the time, was "common knowledge" that the disease had been released to the wild from a game farm in that area - I thought it was elk, but might have been deer that was being farmed - stock had been imported into Canada - the story was they were brought in from USA. I think that was more or less the start of CWD in deer in Western Canada.

In early Spring - like March - drive through rural Sask and see huge herds - many hundreds of animals in the same field - of whitetail together in any field or open hill side where the snow has melted a bit and they can find something to eat - just do not see herds like that except in the very end of Winter - pretty sure they are starving and desperate for any kind of feed - so would be a very prime opportunity for any contagious disease to spread among them. Seems there is some evidence that the source of the disease - the prions - may be spread through eye secretions, possibly saliva - within a carcass all the publications seem to warm about brain and spinal cord tissue and fluids - no mention of blood or other body waste as a potential carrier.

Potashminer you mostly explained how it came to be in Saskatchewan. There was a elk farm near Medstead that imported 90 cow elk from Colorado. These went through the normal quarantine before being sold as breeding stock to elk farms all over Saskatchewan. Every one of these farms later broke with CWD. 10 years ago, If you look at a map of CWD in wild deer, they were are all concentrated in areas where there were elk farms. That has changed now, as the disease has become more widespread. CWD spreads very slowly. It is called an epidemic in slow motion, since it may take 20 years for an area to get saturated with prions and resulting 50% positivity rate in deer.

 

[53Izzy744]

Do you get another tag if your deer tests positive for cwd? Like, you used up your tag and took out a cwd deer for the greater good, will they reimburse you with a new tag to get a good deer for yourself? Or is that only during a specific cull