CWD is a form of transmissable spongeform encephalopsy found in cervids such as deer and elk. The CDC recommends not consuming the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes of deer and other game animals. An outbreak of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob (vCJD) disease in residents of Kentucky in 1997 was linked to consumption of squirrel brains, though not conclusively. Since CJD is always fatal and untreatable, it seems prudent to not eat deer brains.