There will be no choosing of topics this week because I am choosing Euler's Choice for you this week.
And this one is from the BBC. I learned my lesson on using, I don't know, whatever that other one was.
Are you there?
Yeah, are you gonna read it?
Yeah, I'm gonna read it. I just wanted to make sure you're listening to me.
This one is titled, Hold On, Who's It By? I have to give you all the information for it.
First, by Jennifer Cheesack, 19th of April, 2024.
Her family had a cheese sack?
Yeah.
Huh.
Oh yeah, long cheese sack. Averse.
A zombie deer disease posed risk for humans.
Interesting.
Yeah, recent cases of humans contracting sporadic, oh no, I cannot read that word.
Something, Jacob Disease, CJD have raised questions about whether a disease carried by deer may be
jumping the species barrier. That's terrifying.
I believe it's Crute's felt, Jacob's disease is the one you're talking about.
It's felt. I mean, you say it like that and it sounds easy, but I'm looking at it.
Oh yeah, it looks tougher than that.
It's possible.
I do for now. I'm looking right next to this article and it's recommending me an article that's a
brief history of panda diplomacy. I really want to click that, but I've got to read.
Stay focused, Chelsea.
Zombie deer disease is spreading among wildlife.
Scientists haven't reached an agreement on whether the condition, also known as chronic
wasting disease, can spread to humans and lead to a form of Crute's felt, Jacob disease.
Oh, that was good.
Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a type of pre-on disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States,
it's a neurodivergent condition that infects wildlife, including deer.
It has also recently been confirmed in deer, as well as moose in Canada,
after previous cases were reported in Yellowstone National Park in the United States.
No cases have yet been reported in humans, but a recent medical case report by doctors in Texas,
U.S., on the deaths of two hunters who regularly ate meat from a population of deer infected with
CWD, has raised fresh questions about a link with human pre-on disease.
Both men died of CJD, but doctors investigating the deaths were unable to prove a definitive link
to CWD. It urged for the need for increased surveillance and research to establish whether
the disease can cross over into humans. As transmissions in animals increases across North
America, Scandinavia, and South Korea, some experts fear the risk of transmission to humans
may also be increasing. It based their concerns on experimental studies, the history of other
pre-on diseases transmitting from animals to humans, which is extremely rare, and the potential
impacts of climate change. As of yet, there has been no transmission from deer or elk to humans,
such Jennifer Mullenax, associated professor of wildlife ecology and management at the University
of Maryland. However, isn't that a bit of a lie? They just haven't confirmed it? I guess so.
Because it really sounds like those hunters got it from deer. Yeah, because they exclusively ate
deer who were infected by it. However, given the nature, pre-on CDC and other agencies have
supported all efforts to keep any pre-on disease out of the food chain, well, except for deer
hunters. This is what we currently know about CWD. What is zombie deer disease and what are the
symptoms? Chronic wasting disease is transmitted in cervids, which are hoofed, ruminant mammals,
such as deer, reindeer, elk, and moose. Although it is an infectious disease, CWD is not caused by
a bacterium or virus, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Planet
Health Inspection Service. Instead, a misfolded pre-on protein causes the issue, but researchers
don't yet know what causes the protein to become abnormal. Normal pre-on proteins potentially play
a role in cell signaling, but when misfolded, they cause more proteins to misfold. Misfolded
pre-on proteins in the brain kill brain cells and cause bodily dysfunction, leading to unusual
symptoms. Symptoms include weight loss, excessive drinking, and urination, poor balance and coordination,
drooping ears and difficulty swallowing. The difficulty swallowing can lead to drooling and
eventually pneumonia and death. The classic symptoms and the image of an uncoordinated
stumbling and drooling animal have led to the term zombie deer disease. The symptoms can take months
or years to manifest, making a visual diagnosis difficult. When pre-on proteins are misfolded,
they become infectious, which leads to the spread among wildlife. CWD spreads from animals through
direct contact with bodily fluids and waste and through indirect contact with contaminated
soil, water, and food. The CDC estimates that in areas where the pre-on disease is endemic,
infection rates range from 10% to 25%. In 2023, surveillance results from the Canadian province
of Alberta suggest a 23% positivity rate for mule deer. Current evidence does not show that CWD can
be spread to humans when they eat the meat of an infected animal, encounter infected wildlife,
or drink or touch contaminated soil or water. But researches continue to investigate whether
animal to human transmission is possible. The current body of research is in mixed bag,
meaning we don't yet know. This goes on for quite a long while. So I'm going to end it there,
but the headline caught my eye. I don't know that it's chronic wasting disease has come up on the
podcast before, but I know we've not in a long time. We have talked about it. We have talked about
it because there's like the deer act like super bizarre. So then you'll see paranormal stuff
come up with them because of the way that they're acting. Yeah, it's something that's terrifying,
just in my mind, because like there's nothing we know what to do about it. We can't really tell
you much about it. It's highly scientific. So we can't really even fully explain it that well.
And yeah, there's no possible hope for a cure at this point because we have no idea how to stop a
protein from just folding other proteins in a different way, which at the end of the day is
what a preon is doing. I don't even really know what that means. So yeah, I know. But anyhow,
you guys got 48 hours to come up with the answer and then we'll see you back here. Good luck. Bye.
Bye. With the latest Panda additions to the San Diego Zoo, Panda diplomacy is back.