Zombie Deer Disease

Submission 18,418

About

"Zombie Deer" Disease is a nickname given to the chronic wasting disease of deer, elk and other similar species. In 2019, the disease became a topic of reactionary memes following several articles reporting on an outbreak of the disease in North America and claiming that it potentially could spread to humans.

Origin

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), nicknamed "zombie deer" disease, was first identified in mule deer in 1967.^[1] The cause of the disease is believed to be a prion. The symptoms of the disease include aggression, lack of fear, tremors, pneumonia, and lesions, with the outcome always being fatal.

Unlike mad cow disease also caused by a prion protein, no evidence exists of the "zombie deer" disease ever spreading to humans, although a study carried out by researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding consuming certain parts of animals affected by the disease.^[2]

Spread

Starting in late January 2019, several major news outlets, including Live Science^[3], Forbes^[4] and Mirror^[5], have reported on an outbreak of the "zombie deer" disease in North America. Several articles, including pieces by LiveScience and Fox News^[6], raised concerns that the disease could spread to humans based on intermittent results of an ongoing 2009 study^[7] by the Alberta Prion Research Institute which reported confirmed cases of the disease transmitting to macaques.

On February 11th, 2019, Twitter user @ultravantaes posted a tweet linking to an article about the disease, writing that the South Korean zombie film Train to Busan had a similar premise. The tweet gained over 15,200 retweets and over 30,000 likes in five days.

In the following days, multiple reaction posts to the news of the outbreak appeared on social media, primarily on Instagram and Twitter.