United States: Authorities from the state government confirmed that the neurological disease now exists in deer populations across Washtenaw County. 

Department of Natural Resources personnel confirmed that a sick adult buck from Salem Township tested positive for chronic wasting disease. 

More about the news 

Chemical wastes affect white-tailed deer, together with elk and moose, through a process resulting in their weight decline while triggering abnormal behaviors resulting in organ failure and death, as per state wildlife officials. 

Chronic wasting disease detection in wild deer has been confirmed in the 15th county of Michigan, with Washtenaw County now included. 

According to DNR’s official statement, “The disease is chronic, slow developing, and spreads slowly across the landscape,” mlive.com reported. 

The disease detection in wild deer has now occurred in Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm, and Ogemaw counties. 

The Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, together with the US Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, established through tests that an infectious case occurred in Salem Township. 

What more are the experts stating? 

According to Chad Fedewa, the DNR’s acting deer, elk, and moose management specialist, “The expansion of chronic wasting disease to Washtenaw County is consistent with the slow spread we’ve seen throughout Michigan,” mlive.com reported. 

A local resident reported to the DNR about an unwell deer, which he observed. 

Residents need to report sick wild animals by using the Michigan.gov/EyesInTheField website and find several CWD testing facilities across Michigan. 

The DNR carries out disease testing of deer through its state-based surveillance initiative. 

Chronic wasting disease has not caused illness in humans, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against human consumption of infected deer or eating them by domestic animals. 

Furthermore, “Hunters should take precautions when field-dressing or processing a deer,” officials stated. 

“This includes wearing rubber gloves, minimizing contact with the deer’s brain and spinal tissue, and washing hands with soap and warm water after handling any parts of the carcass,” they continued. 

The proper management of deer carcasses serves as an important measure to stop disease transmission. 

The disposal method contains two options: immediate landfill entry or standard trash collection with proper bagging. 

The statement declares that any deer arising from CWD-afflicted regions must always be discarded through appropriate methods aside from landscape disposal. 

United States: A medical examination confirmed that the late actor Gene Hackman suffered from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and advanced Alzheimer’s disease at the time of his death, whereas medical authorities indicated he lost his wife through “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome” (HPS). 

About Hantaviruses 

According to molecular virologist Dr. Rhys Parry at the University of Queensland in Australia, hantaviruses represent a virus group that spreads primarily through rodents to produce serious respiratory and renal illnesses in humans. 

HPS is a condition that Hackman’s wife contracted from one of the many hantaviruses discovered in North, Central, and South America, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

According to the CDC, “The hantaviruses that are found throughout the United States are not known to spread between people,” Fox News reported. 

For patients who become infected with HPS, this disease leads to the death of approximately 40% of them, based on information from the cited source. 

How does the disease spread? 

“Hantaviruses typically spread when humans breathe in virus particles from disturbed rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials,” as Parry noted. 

The CDC has recognized various patterns through which this pathogen spreads. 

Human beings risk infection from hantaviruses through contact with dusty airborne rodent waste during cleanup activities. 

The disease spreads when people handle contaminated objects and place their hands on their mouth or nose. 

A person can develop an infection by allowing rodents to bite or scratch them, as Fox News reported. 

When people consume food that contains hantavirus microorganisms. 

What more are the experts stating? 

According to Dr. Marc Siegel, who holds the position of clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and serves as a Fox News senior medical analyst, hantavirus transmission occurs through rodent-derived dust that also contains saliva and urine and pathogen contact areas. 

According to the doctor, deer mice are the primary carriers of this virus throughout the United States. 

Most hantavirus cases occur in rural zones because the Centers for Disease Control observes rodents more readily enter houses and barns in those locations. 

Hantavirus infections are “incredibly rare,” according to both the experts. 

“This is a pretty sad set of circumstances,” Parry mentioned. 

“I’m honestly impressed they were able to determine it was HPS after the fact,” he noted. 

Furthermore, as Siegal maintained, the disease rarely affects humans “because only some of the rodents have it, and they don’t all come into contact — but one-third to one-half of cases are fatal.” 

United States: Scientific proof disproving vaccine-autism connections did not halt the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from investigating potential vaccine-caused autism. 

More about the news 

Records show that Trump administration officials sent the study request to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Before his time as president, Donald Trump, alongside his HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advocated that vaccines triggered autism despite scientific evidence refuting this claim for countless years. 

According to HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon, “As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening. The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering,” US News reported. 

The rates of autism diagnosis have shown substantial growth throughout recent decades. 

The United States currently reports that one out of thirty-six children receives an autism diagnosis, while eleven states show data indicating that autism affected one out of 150 children back in the year 2000. 

Experimental data and revisions to diagnostic categories made by physicians explain most of the detected increase in autism spectrum disorders. 

Factors impacting autism 

Scientists continue research to uncover whether genes and environmental elements influence autism development. 

Most scientific experts unanimously agree that autism does not arise from vaccine administration. A vast amount of research involving hundreds of thousands of children has disproved this connection. 

Scientific evidence from 2019 research involving half a million Danish children proved that the measles mumps, along with the rubella MMR vaccine, fail to create autism risk, according to The Washington Post. 

A discredited 1998 paper created the incorrect link between MMR vaccines and autism, even though the connection turned out to be false. 

The journal article led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield later led to his medical license revocation after documentation proved his professional misconduct, as reported by The Post. 

Experts argue that performing another study on this matter is both superfluous and unprofessional.