If you spend time outdoors in Utah, you may have heard of chronic wasting disease. Biologists who work with it often call it CWD for short. It impacts scores of wildlife across the West and has a 100% mortality rate.
“CWD is caused by a protein,” said disease ecologist Kezia Manlove. “And the way that works is you encounter this misfolded protein, and it converts your proteins to become misfolded like it. And then all these misfolded proteins sort of gum up your central nervous system.”
Manlove is an associate professor at Utah State University. She said CWD is a cryptic disease that can persist on the landscape for several years. Speaking to UPR earlier this year, she said it can spread through shockingly subtle pathways.
“Nose to nose contact or respiratory droplets or fecal-oral pathways. It can also be spread through the environment, the big source of CWD risk in the environment is carcasses of animals who died from CWD.”
That’s why it’s so important for hunters to be cognizant this fall. Infected animals typically don’t show physical signs of infection until a few months before they die, even though they can be infected for several years.
State Veterinarian Ginger Stout said in March that late-stage clinical signs of the disease can be hard to miss.
“One thing that you'll see is lethargy, so they just look like they don't want to do anything,” Stout said. “They'll sometimes have droopy ears, and then they won't want to move around very much, and then salivate a lot.”
Stout said chronic wasting disease has been present in Utah for over 20 years, and while the disease isn’t new, it is spreading. This year alone the Department of Wildlife Resources has tested over 2,000 animals, and 83 of those came back positive.
That number is expected to increase sharply through the hunting season.
“We are seeing an increase in detections,” Stout explained. “We're not finding it in that many new spots, but it is spreading within those infected areas that we know about.”
Those areas include Moab, Vernal, and Bountiful, as well as in the La Sal Mountains and Nebo area.
Stout strongly recommends getting your deer, elk, or moose tested for the disease before consumption.
“So far no one's been confirmed to get CWD,” Stout said, but cautioned, “We haven't ruled out the potential.”
Stout said there are a few simple things hunters can do to help limit the spread of chronic wasting disease and inform biologists.
“The most important thing is to get your animal tested, especially if you're hunting in our target units — and those you can find on our website,” Stout said. “If you have an animal that you're butchering, we ask that you put all the remains in a trash bag and in your garbage. Don't put it out on the landscape, because that's a really good way to spread CWD around.”
Additionally, Stout and Manlove say you can do your part by stopping at a game check station or Division of Wildlife Resources office and letting a biologist remove the lymph nodes of your animal.
The lymph nodes are small kidney bean shaped organs that sit behind the jaw on either side of the esophagus.
Manlove said that the field dressing and butchering process is one you should be mindful of in order to keep your hard-earned venison safe for consumption and limit the spread of chronic wasting disease.
“Avoid the spine and the brain in your butchering process,” Manlove suggested. “Ideally, you would leave the spinal column where you killed the animal, so you're not inadvertently moving it around.”
If you take the proper precautions, she said, you likely have nothing to worry about.
“The risk to humans appears to be very, very low. Like, infinitesimally small with careful butchering.”
While questions remain, Manlove and Stout say simple steps — like reporting sick animals and testing harvested deer — can go a long way in helping manage the disease.
