What happened to 200 people who ate CWD meat

While people are wondering what could happen if humans eat "zombie" deer meat, there is at least one group of people who already know it.

On March 13, 2005, a local firefighting company located in Oneida County, New York, fed a deer test positive for chronic debilitating disease. for about 200 to 250 people. They did not know that the meat came from a sick deer at the time. Laboratory tests performed on one of the cervids served were positive later.

The Oneida County Health Department, of which little is known about what happens to people who consume infected meat, began monitoring the health of the group through a monitoring project. About 80 people who ate venison agreed to participate. In collaboration with the State University of New York at Binghamton, health experts consulted a group of mostly white men for six years to see if they were developing unusual symptoms .

In a study published in the public health journal Public Health, researchers discovered that the group had "no significant change in health status". They reported eating less venison after all the ordeal. In addition, conditions observed, including vision loss, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, weight changes, hypertension and arthritis, were taken into account in old age.

More: Will deer with chronic debilitating disease attack humans?

"This is the only study I know that has this progressive tracking of a known point source contamination where we know people have eaten a tainted animal," said researcher Ralph Garruto at USA TODAY , Professor of Biomedical and Biological Sciences at the University of Binghamton. .

Garruto said his team was joining the group every two years and planned another follow-up in the spring. He stated that the risks of onset of symptoms diminished over time, but it is still unlikely that any one will show signs of the disease.

"It only takes one case," he said.

To date, no cases of MDC have been reported in humans, but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Wildlife Bureaus are urging hunters to: take precautions in areas where the disease has been detected in animals. Laboratory studies have allowed CWD to cross species.

More: How to prevent MDC and avoid eating infected meat

More: Deer disease & # 39; Zombie & # 39; is present in 24 states and thousands of infected deer are consumed each year, warns an expert

"At present, most scientists believe that there is a" barrier of the species "strong enough, which means that it is unlikely that the disease will go away. a new species on the other, "said Krysten Schuler, wildlife ecologist and wildlife co-director of the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab. USA TODAY & # 39; HUI.

However, some experts have predicted that the MDC may one day infect humans. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Policy Research at the University of Minnesota, said it was "likely" that humans contract the disease after eating meat "in coming years".

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