Does CWD pose a health risk to humans?
CWD has never been shown to cause illness in humans. For more than two decades CWD has been present in free-ranging populations of mule deer and elk in Colorado. During this time, there has been no known occurrence of a human contracting any disease from eating CWD infected meat. However, public health officials recommend that people and domestic animals not consume meat from deer that test CWD-positive. Some simple precautions should be taken when field dressing deer in the CWD Management Zone:
Wear rubber gloves when field dressing your deer.
Bone out the meat from your deer.
Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues.
Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.
Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals. (Normal field dressing coupled with boning out of a carcass will essentially remove all of these parts.)
Request that your animal is processed individually, without meat from other animals being added to meat from your animal.