Chronic wasting disease is a fatal, highly transmissible, neurodegenerative disease affecting cervids in North America (Belay et al., 2004; Saunders et al., 2012). There are only four types of cervids known to contract this disease, including elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). It has been classified as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), otherwise known as prion disease (Belay et al., 2004). A prion is a patchy pathogen that causes specific proteins called prion proteins to fold abnormally. These proteins are found primarily in the brain (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). Abnormal folding of this protein causes neurodegenerative diseases in a variety of species including humans, sheep, cattle, and deer (Abrams et al., 2011). The prion diseases to which chronic wasting disease is related are Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease found in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and scrapie in sheep (3,4). These diseases are grouped together because they share some characteristics such as long incubation periods, spongiform changes associated with neural loss, and cause the inability to induce inflammatory responses (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). An animal infected with CWD will have neural loss, astrogliosis, which is an abnormal increase in the number of astrocytes in the brain, and spongiform lesions (Abrams et al., 2011). Infected particles spread throughout the body including the brain, spinal cord, eyes, peripheral nerves, and lymphoreticular tissues (Belay et al., 2004). Most of the infection, however, is located in the central nervous system. It is currently unknown how Chronic Wasting Disease arose... halfway through the article... who hunted in CWD endemic areas to have their deer or elk tested before consuming the meat to prevent ingestion of contaminated meat (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). Numerous studies are currently underway on the potential effects of Chronic Wasting disease on human health. So far, CWD has only been transferred outside the cervid family in laboratory settings via intracerebral injections. There have been no reports of increases in human prion disease in CWD-endemic areas, nor is there currently any evidence to suggest that humans can contract the disease. Due to the long incubation period of CWD, further studies and years of follow-up are needed to definitively determine whether human health can be affected by this disease. At present, however, there is no evidence that humans or even other animals are affected by chronic wasting disease.