With prevalence rates soaring in areas of Wisconsin and mountain states of Wyoming and Colorado, it’s safe to say consumption of CWD meat has happened. Bryan Richards claims “It’s very clear humans are exposed to disease associated prion protein from CWD, whether that will result in transmission of disease across the species barrier is an open question, we absolutely cannot say it will, we absolutely cannot say it won’t.” The human TSE form is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and has been contracted by humans eating cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, or mad cow disease.

Like Richards stated, we cannot rule out that CWD can be transmitted to humans, but no stories of human health issues tied to venison consumption have held up under scrutiny.