Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder found in various species of deer, elk, reindeer and moose.
While it take time for an infected animal to develop symptoms, CWD is always fatal to infected animals and has no treatments or vaccines.
Chronic wasting disease and other prion diseases like it are always fatal for the infected party. A similar disease in cattle is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and a prion disease found in people is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).
Can it infect people?
According to the CDC, there have been no reported cases of the disease in humans, though it can be a risk to other primates that eat meat from infected animals or come into contact with infected bodily fluids.
Please visit the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks website for more information on Chronic Wasting Disease.