Terrifying 'zombie deer disease' reaches 33rd US state... as two hunters die from condition after eating infected deer meat

A deadly 'zombie deer disease' is continuing to spread across America and has now been detected in Indiana - making it present in 33 states.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the chronic wasting disease (CWD) - which is thought to jump from deer to humans - has been detected in an Indiana white-tailed deer for the first time.

It comes weeks after it was revealed two deer hunters were found to have died from a condition they possibly contracted from eating infected deer meat.

Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a contagious neurological condition that kills virtually every animal it infects. It's been nicknamed 'zombie deer disease' because it causes parts of the brain to slowly deteriorate to a spongy consistency and causes behavioral changes, starvation and eventually death. 

It is quickly spreading among states throughout the southern, midwestern and northeastern US, raising experts' concerns about a possible human spillover. 

At least 33 states in America and parts of Canada have seen reports of a virus dubbed 'zombie deer disease' that could potentially spread to humans

The CDC has said there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people, but some animal studies suggest the infection poses a risk to some types of non-human primates, such as monkeys, that eat meat from CWD-infect animals. 

However, researchers from Texas believe they discovered two cases of a similar neurological condition in hunters who ate deer meat that they contracted because the deer they had eaten were infected with CWD. 

Experts have been warning for years that the nearly 100 percent fatal condition - which leaves deer confused, drooling, and unafraid of humans - could jump from animals to people. 

CWD is caused by proteins in the body that do not fold into the correct shape called prions. After infection, prions travel throughout the central nervous system, leaving prion deposits in brain tissues and organs.

It is in the class of prion diseases, which also includes mad cow disease. 

Chronic wasting disease was first discovered in 1967 in Colorado in captive deer, but has now been found in animals in at least 33 states, four Canadian provinces and four other foreign countries. 

Recent studies have shown CWD's prions have the ability to infect and multiply in human cells in lab conditions - which has raised concerns of a spillover.

It is thought that humans may contract the disease from eating infected venison, or via contact with contaminated soil and water.

It may take more than a year for an infected animal to develop symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss, stumbling and listlessness.

Chronic wasting disease has been nicknamed 'zombie deer disease' because it causes parts of the brain to slowly deteriorate to a spongy consistency 

The exact route of transmission is not fully understood, but it is thought the disease spreads animal-to-animal by eating forage or water contaminated by infected feces or exposure to carcasses.

Direct contact, including saliva, blood, urine and even antler velvet during annual shedding may also contribute to the transmission of the pathogen.

Any deer that dies on a farm must be tested for chronic wasting disease and because the disease is so contagious, if one animal test positive, the entire herd is considered to be infected.

A report in the journal Neurology earlier this month theorized the disease may have already jumped species - to two hunters who died in 2022 after eating contaminated venison. 

Researchers believe two men who died in an unspecified state from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a brain-wasting prion disease that has been compared to Mad Cow Disease, caught the condition after eating meat from deer that were infected with CWD.