Deer season approaches, and here in the Ozarks that’s a VERY BIG DEAL. Saw/heard some FB scaremongering about the Bluetongue Virus (“BTV”) in deer–folks worried about what that might mean and/or warning people about it: safe to hunt, eat venison? What?
*feh* I felt like saying, “See that search bar in your browser? USE IT!!! (Well, actually, my thoughts were a bit more derogatory *heh*)
http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/FastFacts/pdfs/bluetongue_F.pdf
(Note that I posted the link in the clear to give you fair warning that it’s a pdf file. Don’t use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it, mmmK? Oh, I scanned the file and it’s OK, but not all pdfs are, and AAR is notoriously full of security holes for malicious folks to exploit.)
Check with the CDC and the USDA as well, if you doubt Iowa State University… though the pdf was linked by the USDA. *heh*
The takeaway, for folks who
-
a. are willing to trust me to be honest with my sources
b. have read this far
From the linked pdf:
Can I get bluetongue?
No. Bluetongue is not a significant
threat to human health.
and, from a USDA page,
“Humans do not play a role in the transmission of the bluetongue virus, either as mechanical or biological vectors. The exception to this is via poor management practices such as using contaminated needles or equipment.”
That is, don’t inject infected blood into your own bloodstream, and don’t cut yourself while processing an infected carcass and get its blood in your wound. *duh* Those are just commonsense behaviors, period. Heck, most sources, from the University of Vermont to te Brtish health services to the University of Queensland–resources all over the world–simply say it’s NOT A PROBLEM FOR HUMANS.
Infection via meat products? Notaproblem. HEAT KILLS THE VIRUS, silly scaremongers.Blood-to-blood–and a susceptible host! (which most sources say MUST be ruminants–bovine or ovine: in those families somewhere) seems to be the only possible way it can be transmitted (which is how the animals are infected: midge bites from midges already carrying infected blood from another animal. Those midges are sooooo messy in their food habits… although none of the sources I have read have indicated humans can also be infected by those same midges. *shrugs* I’d still wear an unscented insect repellent).