Mad Cow Disease ?

Varmint Hunter

Varmint Hunter

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My neighbor who is a (non-hunting) volunteer fireman stopped by to tell me about his colleague who is in the hospital. He has been diagnosed with Mad Cow Disease and is expected to last only about another month. The doctors believe that the source of the disease is related to his hunting activities and/or the consumption of wild game meat.

I have never heard of anyone in out fraternity of hunters who has gotten Mad Cow Disease but figured I ask here. Is anyone familiar with any incidence of MCD in a human associated with hunting or eating game meat?
 
Mad cow or BSE and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease come from prions. (I would be curious to know which variant he has.) Prions are essentially a messed up protein that causes disease. Prions come from the CNS so avoiding brain and CSF should keep you safe. I have heard of a few people getting it, but never from wild game. I am pretty careful when it comes to brain and spinal fluid because of this risk with wild game and domestic animals.
 
It's called CWD in wild game.
Very odd disease caused by a spongiform.
There are some forms of this that can happen in humans, but nothing related to wild game.
CWD is in MT now, something to be concerned about.
I'd like to see the doctor report that links this to eating wild game, I'm not saying it's not true, but I think there could be other reasons for saying something like that.
A doctor diagnosing a patient with a disease (mad cow or BSE it think) that is different than the disease is wild game (CWD) seems odd to me. You can get mad cow from infected eating cows. Wild game animals don't get mad cow, they get chronic wasting disease, similar, but not the same.
Another similar disease is caused from eating human brains.
Spongiforms are really weird, they are basically a mutated protein. Not really a living thing, so they can't be killed. There is no cooking this stuff out.
Scary stuff for sure. I feel really bad for that guy, it's horrible way to go.
 
nmbarta said:
It's called CWD in wild game.
Very odd disease caused by a spongiform.
There are some forms of this that can happen in humans, but nothing related to wild game.
CWD is in MT now, something to be concerned about.
I'd like to see the doctor report that links this to eating wild game, I'm not saying it's not true, but I think there could be other reasons for saying something like that.
A doctor diagnosing a patient with a disease (mad cow or BSE it think) that is different than the disease is wild game (CWD) seems odd to me. You can get mad cow from infected eating cows. Wild game animals don't get mad cow, they get chronic wasting disease, similar, but not the same.
Another similar disease is caused from eating human brains.
Spongiforms are really weird, they are basically a mutated protein. Not really a living thing, so they can't be killed. There is no cooking this stuff out.
Scary stuff for sure. I feel really bad for that guy, it's horrible way to go.
Click to expand...
I assumed that chronic wasting disease was the version in wild game. Thanks for explaining that in your response. I would assume this is a misdiagnosis. I don't believe that there has ever been a case of CWD transmitting to humans. I would assume the doctor is wrong on how he got it. My wife is a NP for a neurologist, I will have her ask him about that diagnosis. When I asked her she laughed and said if it is it would be the first case ever. So she says no it's not from wild game.
 
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This has been studied extensively and so far absolutely no confirmation of transmission to humans. Probably more likely anti hunting doc. But I would not touch brain spinal tissues if I could avoid it. But doing your own Euro skull mounts is an interesting concern.
 
IIRC there are exactly 0 documented cases of CWD transmission and if this is actually the case this will be a very big deal

the prion in mad cow disease is cattle specific, the one that causes CWD is a different prion
 
I think it basically is the deer version of mad cow. It spooked me a bit when it first showed up here. I read about it and other prion or spongiform diseases quite a bit back then. I've probably forgot most of it.
I do remember that it is fatal for whatever gets it. I believe that is true with all prion diseases in any animal that gets it.
They do late season CWD hunts here now, you have to take the animal in to get it tested. If it's positive you do not have to eat it, but I believe it is optional.
Not for me though! I'm not going to eat it on purpose.
 
This is what second opinions are for. And this gentleman needs one right now. Any diagnosis they call terminal should be double checked.
 
And triple opinions or as many as you can get to insure all options for treatment are identified. Get to best medical facility you can. Far too many diagnosis have been reversed when evaluated by specialist in the field.
 
It was an alarming story and I feel very bad for this fire-fighter. My neighbor knows that I hunt quite a bit and was trying to advise me of the potential risk..
Last year I was in Georgia on a night pig hunt using AR-10s and thermal scopes. Our guide used a fresh pair of gloves to dress out the sows. When I told him that I was happy to help he gave me a box of gloves and said not to touch any blood without them. All the used gloves were placed in a separate pail.
Does anyone know exactly what the concern is with wild pigs?
 
Agree on brucellosis but you need to be careful of respirable potential when dressing hogs out too. Especially in dry conditions.
 
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