'Zombie disease' is killing deer in Cananda. What we know so far

Health experts have also warned that the "Zombie disease" or CWD could spread to humans through eating of infected deer or elk meat, making hunters particularly vulnerable to it. (Representative image)

The deer population in Canada has been affected with a strange and highly infectious Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) that is being referred to as the "Zombie disease" because of the symptoms.

The disease has spread in at least two of Canada's provinces - Alberta and Saskatchewan, said health experts. Although CWD first first reported in the US in 1960, Canada's first case of CWD was detected in an elk farm in Saskatchewan in 1996 and spread to wild deer, reported VICE World News.

“There’s an epidemic of CWD in Alberta and Saskatchewan—and it’s already underway,” Margo Pybus, a wildlife disease specialist with the Alberta government, told VICE. “This epidemic is raging through deer in the prairies and parklands.”

According to US's Centre for Disease Control (CDC), CWD is a prion disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. It is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.

Symptoms include excess salivation, lack of coordination, unusual behaviour, excessive urination and weight loss.

Health experts have also warned that the "Zombie disease" could spread to humans through eating of infected deer or elk meat, making hunters particularly vulnerable to it.

The infection may spread through improper handling of the carcass, which might lead to blood or brain matter to enter the body, or through plain consumption of the flesh since the prion protein that causes CWD doesn't break down and remains infectious even when cooked.

But, the CDC has said that there is no strong evidence yet for the occurrence of the disease in humans. It has, however, asked people to be safe and decrease the potential risk of contracting the infection by not shooting, handling or eating meat of deer that look sick.