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Two men died from a deer infected with a zombie pathogen. The first cases are already in Europe.
Austin – The so-called zombie wild syndrome, technically known as “Chronic Wasting Disease” (CWD), was first detected in captive deer at a research facility in the US state of Colorado in the 1960s. Now experts are sounding the alarm because the deadly nervous disease appears to be spreading not only among animals, but has already claimed lives. Two hunters died after eating contaminated deer meat.
Deer transmit zombie wild syndrome: Hunter was confused and aggressive before death
A study that examined the two deaths in 2022 now warns that zombie wild syndrome could also spread to humans. Accordingly, a 72-year-old man ate meat from a deer that was infected with CWD. He showed signs of aggression and confusion. His friend, who had previously eaten meat from the same deer population, had already died, doctors at the University of Texas wrote in the Neurology journal.
“Despite aggressive symptomatic treatment of the seizures and agitation, the patient’s condition worsened,” the research report continued. After a month of observation in the hospital, the 72-year-old also died as a result of zombie wild syndrome. The conclusion of the five doctors from Texas is that CWD is similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transmitted from animals to humans could.
Zombie Wild Syndrome in the USA: Hunter initially diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) leads loudly Robert Koch Institute (RKI) leads to spongy brain changes with significant impairment of mental and motor skills. The deadly disease is transmitted by pathological prion proteins that enter the human food chain via the tissue of cattle. Due to the similarity to the zombie wild syndrome, the two were deceased hunter first diagnosed with CJD.
What are pathological prion proteins?
Pathological prion proteins, also known as PrPSc, are an abnormal form of the normal cellular prion protein (PrPC). These are associated with various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle.
Source: Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
According to researchers at the University of Texas, it is difficult to distinguish the zombie disease from the mad cow disease caused by CJD. For this reason, there is no direct evidence that the hunters died of CWD. Nevertheless, they emphasize that a connection between the sick deer and the men is likely. The doctors strongly recommend continuing with the Illness and their effects on the Health to research.
Disease on the rise: Do German hunters have to fear zombie wild syndrome?
The disease has been reoccurring for years USA and Canada on. In 2019, the US state of Nevada fought against the spread of zombie wild syndrome by asking the population to help track down sick animals. A separate law was passed for this at the time, like the science portal Geo reported. But the first cases are also known in Europe: CWD has already been reported Norway, Finland and Sweden reported.
How does the disease manifest itself in animals?
As the disease progresses, the animals can show various symptoms reminiscent of “zombies”. This is where the colloquial name of the zombie disease comes from. The classic signs include weight loss (wasting), a lack of coordination due to central nervous disorders, stumbling, listlessness, excessive salivation, low fear of people and even aggression.
Source: Bavarian Hunting Association e. v.
After the first case became known in Norway, Dr. Anne Balkema-Buschmann from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) spoke to the German Hunting Association (DJV) in favor of reintroducing monitoring programs. When asked how likely it was that CWD would also occur in Germany, she replied that the geographical location of the Scandinavian country “not very strongly” favors transmission to mainland Europe. (cln)