Dr Michael Osterholm, a top infectious diseases researcher at the University of Minnesota, warned: 'We have some limited data now suggesting that feral pigs might be infected. If they can get infected, surely it's possible domestic swine could also become infected? What would that do to the swine market? What would that do to the cattle market? These are huge issues.'
Both pork and venison are normally cooked before consumption, but researchers say this would not stop someone from catching CWD - because cooking only concentrates the misfolded proteins behind the disease.
Dr Osterholm added: 'We know that people are being exposed [to CWD] through consumption [of meat] with prions. What we don't understand yet is what would it take for that prion to actually infect that human with ingestion.'
In the report, experts - who spent two years working on the project - called for more funding for efforts to halt the disease's spread.
#chronic-wasting-disease #zoonotic-diseases #public-health #infectious-diseases #animal-transmission
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