Although the disease is not known to be transmissible to humans, it is highly contagious among deer, elk and related animals, which can shed infectious misfolded prion proteins in their saliva, urine and faeces. A highly - contagious and deadly animal brain disease , chronic wasting disease ( CD ) , which is related to mad - cow disease , has been detected in Europe for the first time . The virus was found affecting the brain of a wild reindeer that had died . Although the disease is not known to be transmitted to humans , it is highly contagious among elk , deer and related animals , which can produce infectious prion proteins in their saliva , urine and faeces . “ If it ’s similar to our prion disease in the United States and Canada , the difference is subtle and it should be easy to identify , ” says Erik Sigurdson , a pathologist at the University of California .
A highly - contagious and deadly animal brain disease , chronic wasting disease ( CD ) , which is related to mad - cow disease , has been detected in Europe for the first time . The virus was found affecting the brain of a wild reindeer that had died . Although the disease is not known to be transmitted to humans , it is highly contagious among elk , deer and related animals , which can produce infectious prion proteins in their saliva , urine and faeces . “ If it ’s similar to our prion disease in the United States and Canada , the difference is subtle and it should be easy to identify , ” says Erik Sigurdson , a pathologist at the University of California .