University of Minnesota Leads Research Efforts to Prepare for Potential Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease Beyond Deer Population

(KNSI) – The University of Minnesota is ground zero for research on forming contingencies if Chronic Wasting Disease jumps from deer to other species.

The deadly neurological disease affects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. It’s similar to mad cow disease. CWD was first detected in Colorado in 1967. Since then, it has moved into 32 states, including Minnesota and its neighbors.

The 2023 Minnesota Legislature gave money to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy to pioneer a project to prepare for possible CWD cross-contamination from Minnesota’s deer herd to other animals like cows, pigs, raccoons, or people. One of those working on that nightmare scenario is co-director of the CWD Program Cory Anderson. He says they haven’t seen anyone get sick yet. “I mean obviously, if you go back just based on how long the disease has been around, of course there have been people, likely consuming positive animals. Fortunately, at this point, we have not seen any evidence of CWD spilling over into human populations.”

If people were to start getting sick, it would likely curtail the number of hunters and have a ripple effect on state wildlife budgets.

Part of the reason CWD keeps spreading is because of its long incubation period of 18 to 24 months. Anderson explained that a deer will look healthy until the very end. “And what makes management a challenge is that for the vast majority of 18 to 24 months, they’re basically shedding these prions, in their saliva in their urine or feces. And then, of course, that can persist in the environment for years to even decades.”

Anderson told KNSI News that they don’t know much about the disease but will take what they know and devise a plan. “Our vision with this project, isn’t necessarily to come up with just this absolute perfect plan of, this is how it’s going to go. This is what we’re going to say. I think COVID showed us that you can prepare up to a point, but it really takes some creative thinking to imagine all the potential things that you might need to address.”

The group is about halfway done meeting and hopes to give Minnesota officials a report by the end of the year.

___