Facts about prions and chronic wasting disease

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Do you know about zombie deer disease, cuz I'm going to tell you. It's actually called chronic wasting disease and it's really messed up and it happens to deer.

[00:00:08]Listen, if there's one thing I'm afraid of in this world, it's prions. Prions are misfolded proteins that cause normal proteins in the brain to also misfold leading to the accumulation of abnormal protein clumps that damage and destroy nerve cells. And CWD is caused by a prion. Sometimes proteins go wrong.

[00:00:32]Yeah, all these prions accumulate in the brain and it makes the tissue go from normal brain tissue to like a sponge.

[00:00:41]And yes, this is the same kind of thing that causes mad cow disease. And it's really scary cuz the deer look normal for like a really long time and then they just start deteriorating and acting real weird. I mean, they get extreme weight loss, hence wasting, but then they also get severely dehydrated. They start stumbling and drooling and they get low head posture and they also stop being afraid of humans. So, if you ever see a deer that looks like it's pretty wasted away and it's just staring at you, drooling, get out of there, man.

[00:01:16]You're not safe. And the worst part is, the prions don't just go away, all right? They don't just stay in the brain cuz you got to think these things are freaking drooling everywhere, peeing everywhere, pooping everywhere. And then, you know, they eventually they they unalive and then their bodies are just sitting out there, the carcasses are just out in the woods or wherever and all the prions start leaching into the water, into the soil, on the trees and it spreads.

[00:01:47]There's no treatment, there's no cure, there's no vaccine and yes, it will unalive whatever it touches. And this was originally only a thing in Colorado back in the 1960s, and now it's spreading everywhere to other continents, Sweden, Finland, who knows?

[00:02:07]Well, we know. I'm telling you. And the fear is one day it might cross into humanity.

[00:02:13]Oh, no.

[00:02:15]I wonder if this is actually the thing that causes zombies. Like zom- like brains zombies.

[00:02:23]I wonder if this is a thing that will do it.

[00:02:27]Hm.