When a deer gets infected with chronic wasting disease, it can take up to two years before signs of the illness become visible.
At some point, the animal will start to lose weight, stop interacting with other deer, lose its fear of humans, and may start drinking and salivating more. Ultimately, it winds up staring vacantly as it starves to death. That's why the illness is also known as "zombie deer" disease.
The disease is similar to mad cow disease and is caused by the spread of misfolded proteins called prions. As far as we know, no humans have ever been infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD).
But Canadian researchers recently announced that they're concerned the disease could potentially start to infect humans that eat deer, elk, moose, or other members of the same animal family that carry the proteins.
