Florida Reports ‘Zombie Deer Disease’ Cases
Wildlife officials in Florida have confirmed the state’s second case of a deadly and highly contagious infection of zombie deer disease in a wild deer. Also known as Chronic wasting disease, it was detected in a young white-tailed doe found dead after being hit by a vehicle in Holmes County, near the Alabama border, state officials said.
According to officials, this is the second case after the first one was discovered in June 2023.
“This disease right now is probably the greatest threat to deer and deer hunting in North America,” wildlife biologist Steven Shea, who manages more than a half-million acres of deer habitat in central Florida, told The Guardian.
“Based on everything we know, CWD is going to continue to spread,” he said. “Every instance where it’s been tried to be contained and eradicated has been unsuccessful. So really what agencies are trying to do is basically slow down the spread, keep it in a relatively small area.”
Florida launches prevention plan
News reports say the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has launched an emergency response plan, creating a special management zone across Holmes, Jackson, and Washington counties where officials have started conducting enhanced testing and surveillance.
In 2023, the FWC began requiring hunters in affected areas to submit deer carcasses for mandatory testing to help monitor potential spread.
What is CWD?
CWD is a deadly disease that can spread in deer, elk, and moose populations, which damages portions of the brain and typically causes progressive loss of body condition, behavioural changes, excessive salivation, and subsequent death. The cause of the disease is suspected to be a type of prion – a protein infectious particle that is found in some tissues of infected animals.
Even though there is considerable ongoing research, there is no confirmed human neurologic disease linked to CWD at this time. However, experts say that while there have never been any indications of human illness related to scrapie, eating meat from cows infected with a different disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in other countries is related to human deaths.
Doctors say the illness spreads easily among animals and has no cure or vaccine.
How does CWD spread?
Infected animals transmit the disease through animal-to-animal contact and contamination of feed or water sources with saliva, urine, and feces of infected animals.Soil and plants can also be contaminated with CWD prions when infected animal carcasses decay, as well as from feces or urine from infected animals. Prions can stick to soil and plants and continue to spread in the environment for years.Infected animals can also spread CWD as they move to other areas.Scavengers like coyotes and crows that feed on infected remains can also spread CWD prions over a larger area in their feces.Hunters who use natural deer urine-based lures could also spread CWD prions.