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A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Calgary aimed to test the potential for Chronic Wasting Disease to infect humans by running a trial on \u201chumanized mice.\u201d The research found that mice with human proteins showed symptoms of the disease when infected with brain matter from deer. According to researchers, this shows a limited potential for CWD transmission to humans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that by injecting CWD infected homogenates (tissue) into the brains of these mice, three-fourths of the mice started or developed clinical prion disease,\u201d says Dr. Sabine Gilch, an associate professor at the University of Calgary Veterinary Medicine and the study\u2019s co-author. \u201cYou can get a clinical disease from the transmission of CWD-infected deer brains.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study<\/a> also found that current methods of recognizing CWD infections may not always be accurate, and that the mice shed the prions in their feces, which is similar to how CWD spreads in wild deer populations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several prion diseases have been known to infect humans, including a variant of mad cow disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. But, to be clear, CWD has not been discovered in humans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read Next: If Chronic Wasting Disease Is Fatal, Why Aren\u2019t We Finding CWD-Killed Deer in the Woods?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot predict that it would ever happen in humans,\u201d says Gilch. \u201dBasically what we would like to highlight is that if it happens, it could be very different from all prion diseases we know in humans, so it might go unrecognized for a certain amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n So while the research indicates a potential for CWD transmission to humans, the likelihood of that transmission remains low, explains Gilch. Their study doesn\u2019t necessarily suggest that human transmission will occur; it just means it could happen, and we should take the possibility very seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings strongly suggest that CWD should be regarded as an actual public health risk,\u201d the researchers wrote in the study. \u201cCWD prions can cross the species barrier to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n CWD continues to spread across deer populations around the United States. The disease has been reported in 29 states and several countries, including Canada, according to the Center for Disease Control<\/a>. The disease spreads through body fluids, and experts indicate the disease can remain present in the environment for an extended period of time. As a result, CWD is widely considered one of the most pressing wildlife diseases in the country today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would really, really recommend not to eat CWD-infected meat,\u201d says Gilch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n