Wild brain from wild game?

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Central Nervous System InfectionsWild brain from wild game?Three men who

participated in wild game feasts later died of degenerative neurologic

illnesses. by Stephen Barol Goldstein

Copy Editor

 

 

March 2003

 

ATLANTA — Three men, three instances of degenerative neurologic diseases. All

three had taken part in wild game feasts in northern Wisconsin; all three are

dead. At first glance it would seem a relationship between the cases could

easily be established, but the dots do not connect to confirm any unilateral

cause for the three patients’ neurological illnesses.

 

A recent study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) examined the

investigation of these deaths to determine whether a connection could be found

between Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a form of transmissible spongiform

encephalitis (TSE) or prion disease, to chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion

disease found in deer and elk. As the report stated, “Recent evidence that prion

infection can cross the species barrier between humans and cattle has raised

increasing health concerns about the possible transmission to humans.”

 

The cases

Between the years 1993 and 1999 three men who had all participated in wild game

feasts in northern Wisconsin died of degenerative neurologic illnesses. The

first case was a 66-year-old Wisconsin man who in December 1992 “sought

treatment for recurring seizures, increasing forgetfulness and worsening hand

tremors,” according to the CDC. Initial electroencephalographic (EEG) and MRI

examinations showed some “focal epileptiform activity” but no specific diagnosis

was made. In February 2003 his conditioned worsened and CJD was suspected. By

the end of the month the patient died.

 

The first patient was a lifelong hunter who ate venison frequently and hosted

the wild game feasts at his cabin from 1976 until shortly before his death.

 

The second case concerned a Minnesota man of 55 years who in May 1999 sought

evaluation and treatment after a three-month history of progressive difficulty

in writing and steadiness of gait. Initial computed tomography (CT) scans and

MRI were inconclusive. By June his condition worsened and he was hospitalized.

After an EEG he was diagnosed clinically with CJD. The patient died in July 1999

following worsening symptoms.

 

The second patient was not a hunter. He had made “an estimated 12 visits to the

cabin where the wild game feasts had been held,” but had only taken part in a

feast once.

 

The final case concerned a 65-year-old Wisconsin man who in June 1992 was

treated for progressive slowing of speech, worsening memory and personality

changes. After a CT scan showed mild atrophy and an inconclusive EEG, he was

diagnosed with Pick’s disease; he died in August of the next year.

 

The third patient had been known to eat venison and “had participated regularly

in wild game feasts held at the cabin of patient 1.”

 

Of the three cases, only the 55-year-old man was determined to have had CJD.

Subsequent evaluations of that patient’s brain tissue revealed “widespread

subcortical spongiform lesions consistent with CJD.” The other two patients did

not conform to the diagnosis once brain tissue was sent to the National Prion

Disease Pathology Surveillance Center for analysis.

 

The study determined that the wild game feasts in question were not some bastion

of burgeoning cross-species prion disorder. However, it would not be prudent to

disregard the transference of CWD to humans. In this mood, the report concluded,

“Ongoing surveillance of CJD, particularly in states with CWD, is important to

assess risk, if any, for CWD transmissions to humans.”

 

subheadFor more information:

CDC. Fatal degenerative neurologic illnesses in men who participated in wild

game feasts — Wisconsin, 2002. MMWR. 2003;52(7):125-127.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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