Yellowstone: Experts Alarmed Over Discovery Of 'Incurable, Fatal' Chronic Wasting Disease; It's Ecological Implications

Experts have raised alarm over the discovery of the ''incurable'' and ''fatal'' chronic wasting disease among animals in Yellowstone.

They said that the said disease also has ecological implications.

Scientists said that the discovery in Yellowstone, an area which the ecosystem supports the greatest and most diverse array of large wild mammals in the continental US, has represented an important public wake-up call.

Chronic Wasting Disease Put On Radar

This latest discovery of the disease in the area has placed it on the radar for attention as it has remained unattended in the previous years. This despite early prediction that the chronic wasting disease would soon reach Yellowstone.

Authorities from the Yellowstone National Park and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) recently confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in the carcass of an adult mule deer buck found near Yellowstone Lake in the southeastern section of the park.

This is the first confirmed positive detection of the disease in Yellowstone National Park.

Officials said that the mule deer buck was originally captured by WGFD staff near Cody, Wyoming, in March 2023 as part of a population dynamics study and fitted with a GPS collar.

The collar signaled the animal died in the middle of October 2023.

In coordination with Yellowstone staff, WGFD located the carcass on the Promontory, which is a landmass that separates the South and Southeast arms of Yellowstone Lake and collected samples for testing.

The samples then tested positive for CWD based on multiple diagnostic tests performed at the WGFD's Wildlife Health Laboratory.

Fatal To Animals

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chronic wasting disease is a prion disease that usually affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. It has been found in some areas of North America, including Canada and the United States, Norway and South Korea.

It may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms.

Studies have shown that the CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may even die without ever developing the disease. The CWD is considered to be fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.

At present, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people.

However, some animal studies already suggested that the CWD would already pose a risk to certain types of non-human primates, like monkeys, that eat meat from CWD-infected animals or come in contact with brain or body fluids from infected deer or elk.

These studies already raised concerns that there may also be a risk to people.

Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain.

Scientists said that CWD usually spread between animals through contact with contaminated body fluids and tissue or indirectly through exposure to CWD in the environment, such as in drinking water or food.

Like other prion diseases, the CWD may have an incubation period of over a year and clear neurological signs may develop slowly.

Deer, elk, reindeer, sika, and moose with CWD may not show any signs of the disease for years after they become infected.