Chronic Wasting Disease Confirmed in Georgia
In a recent article, The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division has confirmed Georgia’s first case of CWD. The disease was found in a two-and-a-half-year-old male white-tail deer in Lanier County. Georgia hunters have been worried about this disease for quite a while. While the GDNR is doing their best to minimize the effect, there is a real chance that the disease will spread throughout the abundant white-tailed deer population in the state. It is sad to see this day come as Georgia gets added to this list. We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst as we face this pressing issue.
Image by diane616 from Pixabay
What is CWD?
Chronic Wasting Disease is a neurological disease caused by misfolded proteins. These defective proteins, called prions, damage brain and nervous system tissue. The result of this damage leads to the death of the animal. This is a disease that affects deer, elk and moose populations. CWD is similar to “mad cow disease.” It is important to note that the disease has never been documented in people. There are no vaccines or treatments, so naturally all deer that get CWD will get sick and die.
CWD is a form of Spongiform Encephalopathy which is a disease that leaves holes in the brain that resemble a sponge. As a result, this neurological disease rapidly deteriorates the brain of the animal. Other types of Spongiform Encephalopathy include Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or “mad cow disease”), which affects cattle, and Scrapie, a disease that affects sheep and goats. CWD can be transferred to other animals directly from another animal’s body fluids whether the infected animal is dead or alive.
Why is this a problem?
Once CWD has made it to a particular area, it cannot be eradicated. We can only hope to contain the disease as much as possible. The prions, mentioned above, will shed into the environment of the infected animal. Once these prions have shed, nothing kills them so they are easily transmitted to other animals. Unlike most bacteria, prions from a CWD infected animal cannot be destroyed by heat, cold, sunlight, etc. These prions can remain in the soil and water of the area for a very long, or indefinite period of time.
Can It Affect Livestock and PEts?
As far as we know, the disease does not naturally infect pets, cattle, or other livestock. Only the deer family populations (deer, elk, and moose) are susceptible to CWD. Deer like white-tailed deer, elk, moose, caribou, and red deer make up the Cervidae family. Hoofed mammals like goats, antelopes, sheep, cattle, and buffalo make up the Bovidae family. Cervids and Bovids are both part of the order Artiodactyla. While they are both part of the Artiodactyla order, Bovids cannot contract CWD as it only affects the Cervid family.
History
While trying to stay out of the rabbit hole as much as possible, I am still blown away by the scope of this disease. CWD was first discovered in 1967 in a captive mule deer in Colorado. It was not discovered in the wild until 1981 in a Colorado elk. The origin of the disease is unknown, but it is believed to have been transmitted by a sheep infected with Scrapie. Since then, the disease has spread, somewhat rapidly, throughout the United States.
Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease in North America, updated January 23, 2025.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected in free-ranging cervids in 36 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and in captive cervid facilities in 22 states and three provinces. For more information on detection locations visit: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nwhc/science/expanding-distribution-chronic-wasting-disease
What Should You DO?
First, I encourage you to use the links throughout this article to dive deeper. If you are a hunter or a consumer of deer meat, I would strongly suggest getting your meat tested for CWD if you are in an area that has had cases of infected populations. Please consult the CDC here to find out more. The CDC suggests multiple different ways to reduce the risk of contracting this disease. CWD has not been confirmed in humans yet and these are just precautions. An NIH study from 2022 and 2023, suggest that CWD is unlikely to move from animals to humans. However, the researchers acknowledged that their research may not have accounted for the emergence of new strains of the disease or genetic susceptibilities in some people.
A Patriot’s View
I am writing this article from my home in West–Central Georgia. The new case of CWD in Georgia, as well as the cases in the Florida Panhandle, Alabama and Tennessee, are all hundreds of miles away from my home and the properties I hunt. With that being said, I will still proceed with caution in the seasons to come. Deer populations migrate and so will this disease. As cases creep in closer, I will really be concerned. I typically only kill one deer a season, if that, as my family does not find venison to make great table fare. I know, I know. They are missing out big time.
While CWD does progress quickly in a deer, it still has to progress. This means that a recently infected animal may look perfectly healthy and I have two different U.S. Government agencies telling me two different things. One, the CDC, is telling me not to eat the meat from an infected animal and even making sure to use latex gloves when field dressing. The other, the NIH, is telling me that “humans are extremely unlikely to contract a prion disease because of inadvertently eating CWD-infected cervid meat.”
You are probably thinking to yourself, as I am, “typical government” and you would be one hundred percent correct in your thoughts. Two agencies under the same body contradicting themselves is a way of life in America. All of that aside, I am going to proceed with caution and take an extra close look at the animal I am about to bring home to butcher before pulling the trigger or nocking an arrow.
