PA Warns Of 'Zombie Deer' Disease As Hunting Season Gets Underway

PENNSYLVANIA — Officials in Pennsylvania are warning hunters and members of the general public to be on the lookout for Chronic Wasting Disease, also known as Zombie Deer Disease, as hunting season gets underway.

The fatal neurological disease, which develops very slowly in the lymph nodes, spinal tissue and brains of deer and similar animals, is highly contagious. There is a "strong species barrier" protecting humans from the disease, but stopping its spread is vital to the health of both animals and the environment.

“As fall washes over the commonwealth and Pennsylvania’s more than 850,000 licensed hunters move to the woods, we encourage them to keep health and safety in mind,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a statement. “With a few simple steps, hunters can protect themselves and their families, or those they’ve donated venison to, from risks associated with CWD.”

While there is no evidence that it can be spread to humans and there have been no reported cases of infections in people, some animal studies suggest chronic wasting disease poses a risk to certain types of non-human primates, like monkeys, that eat meat from CWD-infected animals or come in contact with brain or body fluids from infected deer or elk, according to the Centers for Disease Control. These studies raise concerns that there may also be a risk to people.

The Department of Agriculture offered the following tips:

• Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from wild deer or elk that look sick, are acting strangely or are found dead. However, keep in mind that most CWD-infected deer might not look or act sick.
• Report any sightings of sick or abnormal-acting wild deer or elk to the PA Game Commission.
• If you are hunting in or near a disease management area, place your deer’s head in PA Game Commission collection containers to submit it for CWD testing.
• If you have your deer or elk commercially processed, consider asking that your animal be processed separately to avoid mixing meat from multiple animals.
• It is recommended that processors take extra care to thoroughly clean equipment after processing each wild deer.
• When field-dressing or processing deer:
  • Wear disposable gloves.
  • Minimize how much you handle the organs, particularly brain or spinal cord tissue.
  • Do not use household knives or other kitchen utensils for field dressing.
• Double bag high-risk parts and dispose of in an approved landfill.

Chronic Wasting Disease is in the family of diseases called "prion diseases" or "transmissible spongiform encephalopathies." According to the CDC, other diseases in that family include "mad cow" disease.

"The infection is believed to be caused by abnormal proteins called prions, which are thought to cause damage to other normal prion proteins that can be found in tissues throughout the body but most often in the brain and spinal cord, leading to brain damage and development of prion diseases," the CDC explains.

Hunters can have animals tested for the disease through the PA Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System. More information is available online.

With reporting from Patch correspondent Kara Seymour