(US-co/wy) Scientists watching for CWD in humans

[Animalconcerns Community]

[from Denver Post]

Washington - Colorado scientists will plow through thousands of death
records looking for evidence that hunters might be at risk for the
same brain-wasting disease that kills deer and elk.

Chronic wasting disease plagues deer and elk in Colorado and Wyoming.
Are there signs it has jumped to humans?
...
Because of the long incubation period of similar diseases, and the
small pool of people in which to study the effects of eating infected
meat, researchers know it could be years before they know. That is why
they must stay vigilant, they said.

Researchers are concerned because chronic wasting disease is similar
in form to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which causes mad cow
disease in cattle. Both diseases are caused by abnormally shaped
proteins that destroy normal brain cells, eventually eating large
holes in the brain.

Since mad cow can be transferred to humans, the same may be true of
chronic wasting disease.

full story:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11799~2600599,00.html

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