Mad cow in deer?

[Comanche]

Has anyone heard reports of a certain mad cow disease infiltrating deer population anywhere?

I was talking to a sorta know it all kinda guy the other day, and in between his incessant yapping I managed to mention deer hunting and he immediately went into some big hoopla about mad cow disease getting into the deer population but he said he thinks it's only in some upper northern states.....not sure.

Has anyone heard anything like this?

He said that the deer processors are supposed to test each animal with a quick test, but again I'm not sure if this is true or what region it pertains to.

Is this the same thing as chronic wasting disease?

 

[the_great_white]

i think it is the chronic wasting disease......i've only heard of it up in the indiana illinois ohio area though...but im no expert.....lol

 

[BLBULLET]

I believe he is confusing Mad Cow with CWD however they are very similar diseases so I believe the only point that he is really wrong about is that he is calling it the wrong thing. Both diseases are caused by prions and cause spongiform encephalopathy in the brain (thank you Microbiology class). Mad Cow is the bovine form and Chronic Wasting Disease is the cervid form. I don't think that CWD is transmissible from cervids to humans, so if the deer are being tested then it is probably just to track the spread of the disease through the deer population. If there is some new evidence out showing that the cervid form is transmissible to humans then there may be something to what he is saying but I've not heard any.

 

[rnfarley]

We had a family friend pass away a few months back with a "variation strand" of Mad Cow Disease (but they would never call it that) and his doctors said that it was likely contracted through his lifetime of eating wild game. But, let me note that every doctor anyone in my family has ever had has discouraged eating wild game. Guess the FDA and USDA like that certification process money and train all the doc's to support that, whether they ever fully consider the idea or not I don't know. Nonetheless, he was diagnosed and was buried within 6 months. Very rough disease on his body and family. I don't know if that's something that cooks out with heat or not.