Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer and Elk

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a specific, infectious, neurological disease of deer and elk in the United States and Canada. The disease is one of a group of diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). It is similar to, but not the same as, scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), and to a disease in humans called new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD). There is convincing evidence that the new variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is caused by the same agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy and is the result of ingesting beef contaminated with brain or spinal cord tissue from affected cattle. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has never been found in the United States. Scientific evidence to date indicates CWD of deer and elk is a distinct disease from these other diseases.

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