The continuing spread of a fatal wildlife disease in Alberta and Saskatchewan has a federal agency recommending a deer cull across a wide swath of the Prairies.

And soon-to-be-published research on chronic wasting disease has raised new fears about whether the illness could infect humans.

“I would say this question was answered with 'yes,”' said Hermann Schaetzl, a veterinary scientist at the University of Calgary.

Schaetzl's work was discussed in a recent report from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, which advises the federal government on agriculture policy. Earlier this month, the institute concluded that in addition to human health concerns, the disease's spread over the last decade threatens Western Canada's agriculture, wildlife and food security.