Going deer hunting? If you kill one, take precautions against chronic wasting disease as you clean that carcass

CWD among free-ranging cervids by county as of August 2019. (CDC map; click on the image to enlarge it.)

Just in time for Halloween: zombie deer. As deer-hunting seasons open and expand among the states, wildlife officials across the nation are issuing new warnings about chronic wasting disease, an incurable neurological disease that lays waste to its victims' brains.

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 277 counties in 24 states have reported chronic wasting disease in free-ranging deer, elk or other cervids as of August," Ryan Miller and Ashley May report for USA Today. Symptoms can take more than a year to develop, and include dramatic weight loss, clumsiness, listlessness, drooling, excessive thirst or urination, drooping ears, aggression toward humans, or lack of their usual fear of humans.

CWD is spread by mutant proteins called prions, much like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad-cow disease that has killed over 220 people worldwide. CWD has not spread to humans, but some researchers worry it could, most likely by eating tainted deer meat. "About 7,000 to 15,000 animals infected with CWD are eaten each year, and that number could rise by 20% annually, according to the Alliance for Public Wildlife," Miller and May report.

Here is advice from the CDC and the Alliance to help hunters avoid CWD:

• Wear latex or rubber globes when handling a hunted animal and its meat.
• Minimize time spent touching the brain and spinal cord tissues.
• Never use household knives or utensils for field dressing.
• Always wash hands and disinfect hunting instruments after use.
• If you usually get your meat commercially processed, ask whether animals can be processed individually to avoid the chance of contamination.