Scientists express concern that CWD will jump the gap from deer to people

Sixty percent of macaques that ate venison infected with the prion that causes chronic wasting disease developed CWD, prompting a warning from the Canadian government last year that eating meat from infected deer, elk or other cervids could cause the disease in people. The macaques consumed the human equivalent of one 7-ounce steak each month for three years, and Mark Zabel, associate director of Colorado State University's Prion Research Center, said that neither freezing nor cooking destroys the prion.