Chronic wasting disease and raw venison

[Aaaaaa]

I live in Wisconsin (Appleton/Green Bay area), where I believe there has been deer found with chronic wasting disease (caused by a prion).  I have a friend who is going to give me some fresh ground venison (that he butchered himself), but because of CWD I am a little leary of eating it raw.  What do you guys think?

[TylerDurden]

I would say ignore it. Most deer is sold minus the head, so it's not an issue, anyway.

[Aaaaaa]

That's what I was thinking--it's only an issue if you eat part of the head or spine, correct?  The friend I'm getting it from shot and butchered the deer himself, and apparently is quite experienced at this so I'm sure he did a good job.  And he said the meat he's giving me is from the hindquarters.
Thanks! :-)

[CitrusHigh]

Hi Sile,

I just posted on this particular subject a while ago because I had been given access to a bunch of deer heads and I know the deer around here have access to grains and have tested positive for CWD, but even the mainstream agrees that it is unlikely deer prions will rot human neural tissue.  They still recommend not to eat brain, eyes, lymph, etc because that is where the prions accumulate, however it appears that deer prions don't behave in the manner that bovine and human prions do.

The reading I did led me to feel safe enough to consume raw brain tissue, so I'll let everyone know in a couple years if my confidence was misplaced or not. If you run a search you should be able to find my thread on the subject.

[Aaaaaa]

Oh, thank you!  Yes, I did a little searching as well and it seems like there has never been an incidence of the CWD transferring to humans, in the 20-some years its been around here.  So if you're brave enough to eat raw deer BRAINS, I guess I can eat raw ground hindquarters! hehe  ;-)
Now, just to convince my hubby not to freak out... :-P