Scientist Are Worried Zombie Deer Disease Could Spread To Humans

Scientists now think you can catch something called zombie deer disease. According to NPR this disease can slowly eat away at your brain, if you eat infected deer meat. The disease, also known as chronic wasting disease (CWD), infects the nervous systems of deer and elk, creating brain lesions, drooling and incoordination.

Scientist didn’t’ think you could get the fatal disease until now, but a Canadian study suggests that it’s possible. Scientists exposed 18 macaque monkeys to CWD in different ways. Macaques are similar to humans and three of the five macaques tested positive for CWD. They ate the equivalent of a seven-ounce steak per month for three years. Two of the three developed anxiety, tremors and loss of control of their body.

An animal can live up to two years before showing symptoms of the disease. CWD spreads through direct contact, or in the plants and soil. It’s similar to mad cow disease — and that ended up spreading to humans. The scientists hypothesize that it’s only a matter of time before the zombie deer disease becomes deadly.

It started in Colorado and is now present in places as far as South Korea and its causes is still unknown — one can only hope it doesn’t continue to spread.

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