CWD in Az.

[.270]

heard this weekend that a good friend died from what they think was cwd. he felt like he got it from a sick elk from u2 that he had cut the antlers off of. he felt like that he got it when he cleaned out the brain cavity. the guys name was Jake Good. he lived in springerville for the last 15-20 years. he was originally from safford. i knew him quite well, but didn't know he was ill till after he died. if i'd known earlier i'da tried to at least attend his funeral and talk with his family about it so's i'd know more about it. do know several folks that talked to him quite a bit before he passed and from what i can gather he did have cwd, or something similar to it and that the game and fish was aware of the situation. i hate to hear this. Jake was a pretty good feller. the thing that i don't understand is that i haven't heard anything about this from anyone except folks that knew Jake. why ain't it in the news or at least on the game and fish web site? best i can tell it's the best kept secret in the state right now. to me, it's just another reason to clean the elk out of the non-traditional country they have ruined with their proliferation. there are several "elk farms" in close enough proximity to u2 that the disease could have come from something like that too. anyway, i guess until something with some real facts and stuff behind it comes out, this is all conjecture, but i know this much, Jake is dead and everyone feels he got sick from a sick elk. one thing that surprised me is that he felt like he contracted it this past fall, in november i think, and he already died from it. pretty quick. he was in his 60's, but a tough, in shape guy. no pud for sure. story i was told, was that a hunter shot an obviously sick bull. staggerin' slobberin' sick. Jake was working for another outfitter who is denying that bull was sick. anyway, it ended being his job to cut off the antlers and clean em up and this is where he felt like he got it. bad news. the passing of a good guy from a disease that we are all potentially in contact with. still wonder why it ain't been in the news? Lark.

[bullwidgeon]

That is sad. I saw one in that unit slobbering, walking in circles and acting like it might be blind during September. It was a spike. I never thought it had CWD though, I just thought he had a rough night trying to rut or something. I hope G&F looks into this.

 

Bret M.

[bowsniper]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

 

I don't think there has been a case of a human dieing from CWD yet, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, I think that if someone actually did die from it, it would be a significant event and get a lot of attention.

 

Bowsniper

[.270]

he did die and he did have creutzfeldt-jakobs disease, which is a wasting disease. i know the game and fish is aware of it, just wondering why there hasn't been any mention of it anywhere. it isn't a disease that just happens, you get it from something that has it. from what i can gather, there are several real similar diseases that are called wasting diseases. madcow can be a little different than the cwd that affects deer. they can both affect humans. i spend a lot o' time elbow deep in elk guts every year. saw off and prepare quite a few racks every year. real hard to hang an elk and cut the head off without getting your hands covered with spinal fluid. and a guy is doing it with a sharp knife or saw in his hand and all kinds of other sharp things around, like bone chips, etc. that can scratch ya and expose ya to the fluids and organs that carry the disease. be nice to know if there is a real danger there or not. maybe they'll have a special CWD only elk hunt, especially for uso clients. Lark.

[25-06]

Lark I heard about this from my mom the other day, she lives up in Pinetop. Not sure were she heard it from? But if its true.....(this sucks really bad).....Heaven help us........

[257stw]

I had started carrying latex surgical gloves in my pack years ago, not because I was worried about disease, but because it made clean up so easy. Just pull off the gloves and you are clean again. Of course now, hearing this, I am glad and will definitely be continuing this practice! To all his friends and family, sorry for the loss.

[az4life]

I have read:

 

There has never been a case known where the CWD from a Deer or Elk was transmitted to a human.

 

There has never been a reported case of CWD in Deer or Elk in AZ.

 

Supposedly the CWD is not a virus but a PRION which is almost impossible to kill

and survives even bleach, 1000 degrees and -50 degrees.

 

The Human form of the disease is CJD but it is reportedly not the same as CWD.

 

If there IS something to the story, and AZ has it's first Case, plus, we have a Human infected from an animal, the impact to hunting could be devastating.

 

Lets keep tuned in to this closely.

 

Here is a link to a great article if you wants ome recent info on CWD and the family of Prion Diseases.

p-msnbc story on cwd

[vml]

Sorry about Jake Good, guess it was going to hit arizona eventually to bad it had to take someone.

 

I took my deer head to game & fish to test for cwd, I waited around for them to visually view one of the pitutary glands at the base of the skull, there visual indicated the deer was healthy, I didn't suspect that the deer had a problem I was just near game & fish and figured why not take the head there. They did send me a report about two months later.

 

I wonder what action game & fish will take?

[Outdoor Writer]

A message for the public about Chronic Wasting Disease and CJD

 

Arizona Game and Fish Department

 

Feb. 3, 2005

 

Some Arizona Game and Fish Department customers have called us because they have heard rumors that a hunting guide diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakobs Disease (CJD) may have gotten the disease from handling a hunter-killed elk in Game Management Unit 2B.

 

The rumor is that there is a link between CJD and a disease that affects deer and elk called Chronic Wasting Disease.

 

All available science shows that there is no link between these two diseases. CJD occurs randomly in humans. Chronic Wasting Disease is a wildlife disease.

 

Chronic Wasting Disease has not been found in Arizona

The Arizona Game and Fish Department initiated a surveillance program for Chronic Wasting Disease in 1998 and has sampled 3,511 deer and elk. No cases have been found in Arizona.

 

There is a difference between CJD and new variant CJD (nvCJD)

CJD is a disease that occurs randomly in humans. It has not been linked to any other disease in human beings or in wildlife. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says CJD occurs throughout the world in one out of every one million people. It is different from nvCJD.

 

nvCJD occurs in humans but is not linked to game meat. It has been linked to a disease that occurs in cows called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. There is no evidence of a link between nvCJD and deer or elk.

 

Enjoy the sport of hunting

A recent study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviews the best available information on CJD and Chronic Wasting Disease and concludes ?The lack of evidence of a link between Chronic Wasting Disease transmission and unusual cases of CJD, despite several epidemiologic investigations, and the absence of an increase in CJD incidence in Colorado and Wyoming suggest that the risk, if any, of transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease to humans is low.?

 

Learn more about Chronic Wasting Disease on the Web

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

cdc.gov Use their search feature to search the site for Chronic Wasting Disease

Arizona Game and Fish Department

azgfd.gov\cwd

Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance

cwd-info.org

[grizzly]

So there we have the answer, What are they going to do about it? Cover it up and deny it. Never mind the fact that someone died, just dont alarm the public. We dont want to scare away a large revenue source. Reminds me of the original JAWS movie. Im not the kind of person who sees black helicopters or beleives in conspiracies but this just seems very blatant to me.

[Outdoor Writer]

Grizzly,

 

The cause of death was confirmed as Creutzfeldt-Jakobs Disease (CJD) NOT Chronic Wasting Disease. NO game animals anywhere have ever tested positive for CJD. Nor is there any known case of a human EVER contracting either CJD or CWD from a game animal.

 

Do you have some other factual information that contradicts any of the above??? -TONY

[az4life]

Black helicopters and men in black suits with a little "red light flashing thingy" (from the movie MIB) are theories I might subscribe to if there was a lot more evidence of people dying. But for now I will take the "scientific" explanation as true.

We just have to be careful on which animals we intend to harvest. Watch the animal and be sure as you can that it is not acting strange before you shoot it.

 

It is sad when someone dies, and I feel for the family of the gentleman, but we need to view the facts, before jumping to conclusions based only on circumstantial evidence.

[Outdoor Writer]

It is sad when someone dies, and I feel for the family of the gentleman, but we need to view the facts, before jumping to conclusions based only on circumstantial evidence.

 

Bingo!

 

Rumors and hearsay too often grow legs of their own. I've already interviewed several folks for a piece I'm writing on this, and so far there is NO indication any of the hearsay and rumor bear any resemblance to the facts. -TONY

[.270]

for some reason i sorta feel like outdoor writer thinks i'm spreading rumor. i know this much. Jake is dead. he felt that he got sick from a sick elk. he wasn't a scientist or a dr either. but he felt like he got sick after dealing with the elk. he didn't have any way of knowing, but that was his opinion. now i know that the azgfd did at least some investigation of it and didn't say a dang thing to the public. i also know that for years the "authorities" said there was no way that madcow could be transfered to people. eat all ya want. it can't hurt ya. well, they changed that story too, when folks started croakin' from it. i also know that canada beef folks are about to go broke because they've found madcow in their beef. i also know that there is some real worry about a link between cjd and cwd, in scientific circles. cwd is one of the several other diseases that are called "variants" of CJD. so don't say they are totally different diseases. they are one and the same, as far as what they do to animals and people who get it. only real difference is that maybe they are transmitted or occur in different ways. maybe. still a great deal of speculation there. they haven't found a direct link, yet, but they basically all do the same thing, they're just not sure exaclty how you get it or if it starts the same way in all the variants. they are pretty much the same disease, they just don't know if they all get started the same way. if you go to any of the different CJD websites (at least the ones that aren't anti-meat websites disguised as cjd websites, talk about conspriacy theories!) they list CJD, CWD, etc as all the same thing, just different variants. "prions" are spooky. in fact, they scare the heck outta scientists. they've subjected prions to tremendous heat, like in excess of 10,000 degrees, and it still won't kill em. most bacteria is killed by boiling it. 212f degrees. bleach, poison, antibiotics, etc. won't touch em. they're just there and they ain't goin' away. but most scientists feel like there is some link between the different variants. they just ain't found it yet. took a long time to even isolate madcow. biggest problem is that they were looking for a bacteria, instead it was this "prion" crap. i'm really suprised that the azgfd had a position and an answer, but didn't feel like they should broadcast it. in fact, no i ain't suprised. i'm sorta done being suprised with the azgfd. however Jake caught this crap, the azgfd didn't do it. but i hafta feel like maybe they're not being real good stewards by keeping quiet on it. one other thing, if there is no link between cwd, cjd, etc. and humans, then why is there a tremendous effort to keep track of it. why worry about it? why is beef industry and a buncha scientists scared as heck of this stuff? i don't see black helicopters. don't put much weight in conspiracy talk. but i think the azgfd could do a lot better in this situation than they have. too bad Jake died. he was a hunter and a tough sob. has family and pals will miss him. but it sure seems to me there should have been at least little dialogue and information from the authorities on this subject. a little info from them could save a lot of "rumors and hearsay". Lark.

[Outdoor Writer]

Lark,

 

>>heard this weekend that a good friend died from what they think was cwd.<<

 

You can start with the above as hearsay and rumor. It's the first sentence of your first message.

 

I THOUGHT I had a heart attack several months ago; it was indigestion.

 

>>it isn't a disease that just happens, you get it from something that has it. from what i can gather,<<

 

The above also isn't necessarily true of CJD. That's why it's referered to as random or sporadic. In many cases, all the symptoms are identical to Alzheimer's and even an autopsy of the brain requires much testing to decide whether it CJD or Alzheimer's. Both affect brain tissue in a similar fashion. The same tests also show whether the prion is CJD, CWD or Mad Cow related.

 

As for what the "scientists" think, I've been covering CWD since the very first critter with it was discovered in the wild during the 1970s. Same with whirling disease in trout. The FACTS, however, are what I posted. Anything else is nothing but specualtion.

 

Are you even aware how long it normally takes for the symptons of any "prion" borne disease to appear in humans and how long it takes before they actually die from the diseases?

 

Are you aware that INGESTION appears to be the only way humans have contracted mad cow disease to date?

 

Covered the CWD stuff earlier. -TONY