A new study finds that deer can spread a fatal brain wasting disease through saliva and blood. Rebecca Williams reports the researchers say this means no part of an infected animal should be considered safe to eat:
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A new study finds that deer can spread a fatal brain wasting disease through saliva and blood. Rebecca Williams reports the researchers say this means no part of an infected animal should be considered safe to eat:
Chronic wasting disease or CWD, affects deer, elk and moose, and it’s always fatal. CWD has been found in animals in 14 states and two Canadian provinces. Up until now, exactly how the disease spreads between animals has been a mystery.
Now a study in the journal Science shows evidence deer can spread CWD in their saliva and blood. Edward Hoover is the study’s lead author.
“No part of an infected animal is currently recommended to be consumed by people and these findings just underline that, that in addition to nervous system, the lymphoid system, we’d have to consider all parts certainly inappropriate for human consumption.”
Hoover says right now there’s no evidence people are susceptible to CWD, but he says scientists also can’t rule it out yet.
For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.