chronic wasting disease

noun

veterinary medicine

: a progressive, fatal prion disease of deer, elk, and moose that is characterized by weight loss, tremors, lack of coordination, drooling, excessive thirst, and listlessness

Since it was first identified two decades ago in deer in Colorado, chronic wasting disease has spread to a dozen states (including New York) and two Canadian provinces.

—Sandra Blakeslee

Scientists have identified a handful of diseases caused by misfolded proteins called prions, including mad cow disease, scrapie in sheep, and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.

—Nathan Seppa

—abbreviation CWD

Examples of chronic wasting disease in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Wyoming hunter Meg Stanton had to reread her mule deer’s chronic wasting disease results a couple times. —Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 24 July 2024

Though prion diseases are, in some cases, contagious, a federal study earlier this year concluded that chronic wasting disease, found in deer, elk and moose, is very unlikely to pass to people who eat the meat of sick animals. —Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 27 June 2024

The precautions were necessary for a trio of infectious diseases occurring with some frequency in wild animals that summer: Covid-19 was still making life difficult, and a devastating contagion called chronic wasting disease was showing up in deer in the area. —Brenda Goodman, CNN, 11 June 2024

State officials reported the presence of deadly chronic wasting disease in two wild California deer earlier this week. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above