";s:4:"text";s:2698:"It causes a characteristic spongy degeneration of the brains of infected animals resulting in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death. These disorders are caused by … They often cannot hold their heads up. Recommendations for Hunters Do not let CWD worries ruin your hunt. Deer with chronic wasting disease, or CWD, tremble and drool. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of cervids (deer, elk, moose). According to the health agency, CWD could be more widespread than 24 states. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a contagious neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose. Eventually, they lose so much weight that they are little more than hide and bone. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Pennsylvania, like more than half of the other states in the country, is facing the challenge of slowing the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild deer. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Last Reviewed: November 2011. With the growing media attention given to Chronic Wasting Disease, many hunters are asking if they should continue to hunt in areas where CWD has been identified, and to eat the deer and elk they harvest from those areas. Can Chronic Wasting Disease Be Passed to Humans? CWD belongs to the group of rare diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). CWD damages portions of the brain and typically causes progressive loss of body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation and death.