There is fear of a species shift due to the chronic wasting disease that is spreading in the USA
In the United States the alarm has been raised over the chronic wasting diseasealso known as zombie deer disease. It is in fact a pathology that affects cervids and is caused, like mad cow disease, by a prioni.e. from a mutated protein molecule that can also infect other proteins.
Zombie deer disease: symptoms
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Chronic wasting disease currently only affects cervids and is fatal in one hundred percent of cases. A deer affected by this pathology drools, is lethargic, has a fixed and glassy gaze, stumbles, basically moves just like a zombie, which is why the best-known name is zombie deer disease.
Because there is concern in the United States
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This pathology, which in the USA is known as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)has existed for many years, in fact the first time it was isolated in Colorado in 1967 and in 1978 it was recognized as a cause of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. The reason why concern has increased is that the disease is spreadingso much so that as many as 800 cases have been reported in Wyoming, ed it also arrived in Yellowstone National Parkwhere there is the highest concentration of cervids in the entire American continent.
Chronic wasting disease: spillover risk
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There CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)describing chronic wasting disease, recalls that “since 1997 the World Health Organization has recommended that it be It is important to prevent the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain“. The fear, in fact, is that there might be one spillover, i.e. a jump in species, and therefore this pathology can affect other mammals and even reach humans. For now it hasn’t happened, but unfortunately the risk is there, because it is a disease caused precisely by a prion, like spongiform encephalopathy, which has also been transmitted to humans.
Are there cases in Europe?
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The zombie deer disease does not only affect the United States, because, although in much lower numbers, it has also affected European animals. In fact, since 2016, cases have been recorded before Norway and then also in Sweden And Finlanda sign that it has begun to spread.
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