this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
428 points (98.4% liked)

News

23627 readers
2983 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 209 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is literally why we have apex predators such as wolves. They help clamp down on the old and the sick so that prions (mad cow disease) does not spread to other species or humans. It cannot infect wolves.

When you kill off all the apex predators, like when Montana governor Greg Gianforte authorized the massacre of 100 wolves, you see explosions of extremely dangerous diseases and land degradation as deer damage tree roots, gardens, meadows, streams, and farms.

Not only that, but killing members of wolf packs causes their families to fall apart and everyone to scatter. That means wolves alone. Which cannot hunt pack animals which require coordination. So then they go after the easiest meal: dumbass farm animals who have zero survival instincts and whose ranchers no longer employ people to look after the herds in great enough numbers like the olden days. The cycle then perpetuates, as mad-cow contaminated soils spread and spread....

[–] [email protected] 80 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Damn.... It's almost like we should leave mother nature the fuck alone

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can't infect wolves? I'm no expert here but I don't feel like a vertebrate mammal with a brain could be completely immune to prions. Do you have any more information on that claim?

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It's in the OP article. They haven't found any infections yet, and it doesn't appear to affect them. Apex predators have, prior to human intervention, always hunted the old, the young, and the sick. Mother nature appears to have found a way around apex predators all dying from disease to balance the environment.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can't.... Infect.... Wolves?

You do know that prions aren't living things right? They don't "infect", they are a physical change to a compound (protein) that spreads to other similar compounds it touches. It's not a virus, or a bacteria.

Unless wolves lack the same proteins that deer also have? Usually this is a mammal thing, not a species thing.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 145 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

If a mad-cow-like disease jumped the barrier to humans and began spreading through Americans, the main problem in eradicating it would be that basically no one would be able to tell the difference from the average 'Enthusiastic' Republican Voter and someone whose brain is melting due to an actual pathogen.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Lucky for us prions do not spread except via ingestion...

Realises that we wanted to eat the rich

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

We’re actually not sure about that. Some prions do spread by eating the meat of infected animals, but I think we can be pretty sure that’s not what’s happening in a wild deer population. Prions can also be found in the environment, including deposited on grasses and plants, where that can last a very long time.

We do not know if this disease is or will become communicable to predator animals or what the potential is for environmental spread to livestock. We do know a bit more about the BSE than some others, but there’s a bunch we know exist that we know little to nothing about, and it’s guaranteed there’s more out there that we haven’t encountered yet.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Deer can and do eat meat when available

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just eat the meaty parts, avoid the brain and spinal cord and you're all good.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I don't think enough people are eating venison regularly for a this prion to be a serious threat even if it manages to transmit to humans

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you seen zombie movies? It only takes ONE unassuming hunter... and then it immediately mutates into blah blah magic nonsense ensues...

and then it is airborne, and bloodborne

...

You are correct of course. =P

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Shoot an infected deer in the head or have it otherwise die violently on the ground. Prions can last in the soil for years and years. Misfolded proteins are basically invulnerable, even in shit like autoclaves. If cows eat grass that has prions on them, that shit could potentially jump. And a lot of people ranch their cattle on public lands where infected deer are, and where wolves are unavailable due to politicians, who would otherwise prevent infected deer from spreading.

The best thing that we can do is have wolves clamp down on the few infected deer immediately rather than generate large pools of infection that then start cross-contaminating domestic livestock. Prions and ebola are the two things that really keep me up at night.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From the little I’ve read on this it appears that the infectious cells favor a functional brain so that means all maga evangelical republicans are safe.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

That's not really a good news though. ;(

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Without reading, is it Chronic wasting? I just checked in on that the other day and the CDC didn't seem to think it was a big deal unless you are in a hotzone.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah. CWD a big problem but it isn't going to cause a zombie apocalypse like the headline implies.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Prion diseases can take decades to show symptoms, like with CJD, and are very hard to test for in humans.

It might not be a question of whether it can jump species barriers, but when we will know it did, which is why the CDC can't and won't ring any alarm bells, just advise caution, until it's either too late for individuals or a confirmed non-issue.

There was a study that claimed it had jumped to chimps/monkeys in a testing environment but last I heard it was disputed, but that still leaves the average citizen with plenty of reason to not

Checks notes

Eat a diseased animal.

Source your venison, it should be tested if it's from an affected area but you never can trust suppliers for wild game.

Consider just eating, you know, cow, or only venison from a trusted source.

Preferably the person that shot and had it butchered.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (35 children)

Consider just eating, you know, cow, or only venison from a trusted source.

Preferably the person that shot and had it butchered.

Eat the person who shot the deer? Dang that's some extreme veganism.

load more comments (35 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh its totally fine it's not like we've made the planet warmer allowing viruses to mutilate easier and for longer or like how we haven't been taking part in a centuries long destruction of the deers native habitat forcing them into populated areas right?... Right?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (15 children)
load more comments (15 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago

Add it to “What else can fuck millennials?” pile.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

who had zombie invasion on their 2024 bingo card?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Honestly, natural disaster/Apocalypse has been on mine since 2021

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

it's always on my bingo card. i am a very hopeful person.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A particularly concerning illness for me.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

scientists raise fears it may jump to humans

Who says it hasn't? I mean, have you looked at our politics lately?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

POLITICS! Amiright folks?!

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

I believe it's made the jump into a certain species of monkey in a lab environment last I knew, but the jump to humans hasn't been seen and isn't a given. This is a clickbait title. If you're hunting game, make sure to get it tested with samples taken at a wildlife check station before consuming and you're likely safe here.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

I see we are lining up for a great 2024

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Prions sounds like a very tiny, evil shrimp

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Yeah here we go! We all wanted a zombie outbreak and all we got was corona lockdowns. This is more like it! Bring it on!

/s

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›