The first known case of a deadly brain disease of deer and elk jumping to moose was reported Thursday by state wildlife managers.
The finding does not mean chronic wasting disease is any more likely to infect humans or cattle, experts said.
State health officials, however, continue to warn hunters against eating infected animals.
CWD slowly destroys the brains of infected animals, and it is in the same family of diseases as mad cow in cattle or the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
“To date, there’s no evidence that it’s jumping into people, but we’re still looking,” said John Pape, an epidemiologist with the state health department.
An archery hunter killed the bull moose near Cameron Pass on Sept. 10, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The man submitted brain and lymph tissue for state testing.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the hunter had eaten any of the meat, division spokesman Tyler Baskfield said.
State officials called him with the test results Wednesday, Baskfield said.
Moose testing has been mandatory since 2003, because researchers suspected moose, which are closely related to deer and elk, might be vulnerable to chronic wasting disease.
The disease was first detected in Colorado deer and elk in the 1960s.
Since 2002, 288 moose hunted in Colorado have been tested.
Researchers have penned cattle and infected deer and elk together for nine years and found no evidence that the disease can sicken cattle, said Kathi Green, disease management coordinator with the Division of Wildlife.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
