Pennsylvania Helps State and National Researchers Combat Chronic Wasting Disease
7/30/2014
Pennsylvania Helps State and National Researchers Combat Chronic Wasting
Disease
News for Immediate Release
July 30, 2014
Harrisburg – Seven deer testing positive for Chronic Wasting Disease are
providing researchers with valuable samples and insights on combating the deadly
disease.
The deer from an infected Reynoldsville, Jefferson County farm tested
positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. Two other white-tailed deer died in April
on the farm and tested positive for the disease. This marks the 14th
white-tailed deer in the state to test positive for the disease since 2012.
“Chronic Wasting Disease is making its way across the state and we’re doing
everything we can to stop its spread,” said Agriculture Secretary George Greig.
“By working with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, state and national deer
farmers associations and researchers from across the nation, we can better
combat the disease.”
The department set out to provide as much information as possible to aid
researchers to develop better diagnostic methods. It granted permission for
researchers from Kansas State University, in cooperation with state and national
deer farming associations, to take samples from the live deer. The samples are
being used to study potential live-animal diagnostic tests to detect the
disease.
Postmortem samples were distributed to United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS),
Veterinary and Wildlife Services and USDA Agricultural Research Services for
additional research about the disease.
“This is an unprecedented level of infection in a captive deer herd,” said
Greig. “The department and deer farmers worked together to accommodate the
requests of these researchers. The more we know, the greater the chance we can
eradicate the disease.”
An investigation continues into any other deer farms that may have
purchased or supplied the Reynoldsville herd with deer. Additional herds may be
quarantined.
Chronic Wasting Disease attacks the brains of infected antlered animals
such as deer, elk and moose, producing small lesions that eventually result in
death. Animals can get the disease through direct contact with saliva, feces and
urine from an infected animal.
There is no evidence that humans or livestock can get the disease,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms include weight loss, excessive salivation, increased drinking and
urination, and abnormal behavior like stumbling, trembling and depression.
Infected deer and elk may also allow unusually close approach by humans or
natural predators. The disease is fatal and there is no known treatment or
vaccine.
Two Adams County deer tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in 2012.
During the investigation the department quarantined 27 farms in 16 counties
associated with the positive samples. Since then, five farms remain quarantined.
Surveillance for the disease has been ongoing in Pennsylvania since
1998.
The Department of Agriculture coordinates a mandatory surveillance program
for more than 23,000 captive deer on 1,100 breeding farms, hobby farms and
shooting preserves.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission collects samples from hunter-harvested
deer and elk and those that appear sick or behave abnormally. Since 1998, the
commission has tested more than 38,000 free-ranging deer and elk for the
disease. Five wild deer have tested positive for the disease since 2013.
For more information, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and click on the
“Chronic Wasting Disease Information” button.
Media contact: Samantha Elliott Krepps, 717-787-5085
###
Monday, July 28, 2014
*** Mitigating the Risk of Transmission and Environmental Contamination of
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies 2013 Annual Report
PRION 2014 CONFERENCE
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD
A FEW FINDINGS ;
Conclusions. To our knowledge, this is the first established experimental
model of CWD in TgSB3985. We found evidence for co-existence or divergence of
two CWD strains adapted to Tga20 mice and their replication in TgSB3985 mice.
Finally, we observed phenotypic differences between cervid-derived CWD and
CWD/Tg20 strains upon propagation in TgSB3985 mice. Further studies are underway
to characterize these strains.
We conclude that TSE infectivity is likely to survive burial for long time
periods with minimal loss of infectivity and limited movement from the original
burial site. However PMCA results have shown that there is the potential for
rainwater to elute TSE related material from soil which could lead to the
contamination of a wider area. These experiments reinforce the importance of
risk assessment when disposing of TSE risk materials.
The results show that even highly diluted PrPSc can bind efficiently to
polypropylene, stainless steel, glass, wood and stone and propagate the
conversion of normal prion protein. For in vivo experiments, hamsters were ic
injected with implants incubated in 1% 263K-infected brain homogenate. Hamsters,
inoculated with 263K-contaminated implants of all groups, developed typical
signs of prion disease, whereas control animals inoculated with non-contaminated
materials did not.
Our data establish that meadow voles are permissive to CWD via peripheral
exposure route, suggesting they could serve as an environmental reservoir for
CWD. Additionally, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that at least two
strains of CWD circulate in naturally-infected cervid populations and provide
evidence that meadow voles are a useful tool for CWD strain typing.
Conclusion. CWD prions are shed in saliva and urine of infected deer as
early as 3 months post infection and throughout the subsequent >1.5 year
course of infection. In current work we are examining the relationship of
prionemia to excretion and the impact of excreted prion binding to surfaces and
particulates in the environment.
Conclusion. CWD prions (as inferred by prion seeding activity by RT-QuIC)
are shed in urine of infected deer as early as 6 months post inoculation and
throughout the subsequent disease course. Further studies are in progress
refining the real-time urinary prion assay sensitivity and we are examining more
closely the excretion time frame, magnitude, and sample variables in
relationship to inoculation route and prionemia in naturally and experimentally
CWD-infected cervids.
Conclusions. Our results suggested that the odds of infection for CWD is
likely controlled by areas that congregate deer thus increasing direct
transmission (deer-to-deer interactions) or indirect transmission
(deer-to-environment) by sharing or depositing infectious prion proteins in
these preferred habitats. Epidemiology of CWD in the eastern U.S. is likely
controlled by separate factors than found in the Midwestern and endemic areas
for CWD and can assist in performing more efficient surveillance efforts for the
region.
Conclusions. During the pre-symptomatic stage of CWD infection and
throughout the course of disease deer may be shedding multiple LD50 doses per
day in their saliva. CWD prion shedding through saliva and excreta may account
for the unprecedented spread of this prion disease in nature.
see full text and more ;
Monday, June 23, 2014
*** PRION 2014 CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD
Thursday, July 03, 2014
*** How Chronic Wasting Disease is affecting deer population and what’s the
risk to humans and pets?
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
*** CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION DISEASE, GAME FARMS, AND
POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS THERE FROM
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Louisiana deer mystery unleashes litigation 6 does still missing from CWD
index herd in Pennsylvania Great Escape
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
PENNSYLVANIA 2012 THE GREAT ESCAPE OF CWD INVESTIGATION MOVES INTO
LOUISIANA and INDIANA
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
PA Captive deer from CWD-positive farm roaming free
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Chronic Wasting Disease CWD quarantine Louisiana via CWD index herd
Pennsylvania Update May 28, 2013
*** 6 doe from Pennsylvania CWD index herd still on the loose in Louisiana,
quarantine began on October 18, 2012, still ongoing, Lake Charles premises.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
*** PENNSYLVANIA CAPTIVE CWD INDEX HERD MATE YELLOW *47 STILL RUNNING LOOSE
IN INDIANA, YELLOW NUMBER 2 STILL MISSING, AND OTHERS ON THE RUN STILL IN
LOUISIANA
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
*** CWD GONE WILD, More cervid escapees from more shooting pens on the
loose in Pennsylvania
Sunday, January 06, 2013
USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE
*** "it‘s no longer its business.”
”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations
in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the
respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as
a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific
research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and
consequently not their province!” ...page 26.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
*** Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing
Protocol Needs To Be Revised
Approximately 4,200 fawns, defined as deer under 1 year of age, were
sampled from the eradication zone over the last year. The majority of fawns
sampled were between the ages of 5 to 9 months, though some were as young as 1
month.
*** Two of the six fawns with CWD detected were 5 to 6 months old.
All six of the positive fawns were taken from the core area of the CWD
eradication zone where the highest numbers of positive deer have been
identified.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
*** Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing
Protocol Needs To Be Revised
Infectious agent of sheep scrapie may persist in the environment for at
least 16 years
Gudmundur Georgsson1, Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3
New studies on the heat resistance of hamster-adapted scrapie agent:
Threshold survival after ashing at 600°C suggests an inorganic template of
replication
Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel
Production
Detection of protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a
CWD-endemic area
A Quantitative Assessment of the Amount of Prion Diverted to Category 1
Materials and Wastewater During Processing
Rapid assessment of bovine spongiform encephalopathy prion inactivation by
heat treatment in yellow grease produced in the industrial manufacturing process
of meat and bone meals
PPo4-4:
Survival and Limited Spread of TSE Infectivity after Burial
Sunday, September 01, 2013
hunting over gut piles and CWD TSE prion disease
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Mineral licks: motivational factors for visitation and accompanying disease
risk at communal use sites of elk and deer
Environmental Geochemistry and Health
Monday, June 18, 2012
natural cases of CWD in eight Sika deer (Cervus nippon) and five Sika/red
deer crossbreeds captive Korea and Experimental oral transmission to red deer
(Cervus elaphus elaphus)
spreading cwd around...tss
Between 1996 and 2002, chronic wasting disease was diagnosed in 39 herds of
farmed elk in Saskatchewan in a single epidemic. All of these herds were
depopulated as part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) disease
eradication program. Animals, primarily over 12 mo of age, were tested for the
presence CWD prions following euthanasia. Twenty-one of the herds were linked
through movements of live animals with latent CWD from a single infected source
herd in Saskatchewan, 17 through movements of animals from 7 of the secondarily
infected herds.
***The source herd is believed to have become infected via importation of
animals from a game farm in South Dakota where CWD was subsequently diagnosed
(7,4). A wide range in herd prevalence of CWD at the time of herd depopulation
of these herds was observed. Within-herd transmission was observed on some
farms, while the disease remained confined to the introduced animals on other
farms.
spreading cwd around...tss
Friday, May 13, 2011
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) outbreaks and surveillance program in the
Republic of Korea Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) outbreaks and surveillance
program in the Republic of Korea
Hyun-Joo Sohn, Yoon-Hee Lee, Min-jeong Kim, Eun-Im Yun, Hyo-Jin Kim,
Won-Yong Lee, Dong-Seob Tark, In- Soo Cho, Foreign Animal Disease Research
Division, National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, Republic of Korea
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been recognized as an important prion
disease in native North America deer and Rocky mountain elks. The disease is a
unique member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which
naturally affects only a few species. CWD had been limited to USA and Canada
until 2000.
On 28 December 2000, information from the Canadian government showed that a
total of 95 elk had been exported from farms with CWD to Korea. These consisted
of 23 elk in 1994 originating from the so-called “source farm” in Canada, and 72
elk in 1997, which had been held in pre export quarantine at the “source
farm”.Based on export information of CWD suspected elk from Canada to Korea, CWD
surveillance program was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
(MAF) in 2001.
All elks imported in 1997 were traced back, however elks imported in 1994
were impossible to identify. CWD control measures included stamping out of all
animals in the affected farm, and thorough cleaning and disinfection of the
premises. In addition, nationwide clinical surveillance of Korean native
cervids, and improved measures to ensure reporting of CWD suspect cases were
implemented.
Total of 9 elks were found to be affected. CWD was designated as a
notifiable disease under the Act for Prevention of Livestock Epidemics in 2002.
Additional CWD cases - 12 elks and 2 elks - were diagnosed in 2004 and
2005.
Since February of 2005, when slaughtered elks were found to be positive,
all slaughtered cervid for human consumption at abattoirs were designated as
target of the CWD surveillance program. Currently, CWD laboratory testing is
only conducted by National Reference Laboratory on CWD, which is the Foreign
Animal Disease Division (FADD) of National Veterinary Research and Quarantine
Service (NVRQS).
In July 2010, one out of 3 elks from Farm 1 which were slaughtered for the
human consumption was confirmed as positive. Consequently, all cervid – 54 elks,
41 Sika deer and 5 Albino deer – were culled and one elk was found to be
positive. Epidemiological investigations were conducted by Veterinary
Epidemiology Division (VED) of NVRQS in collaboration with provincial veterinary
services.
Epidemiologically related farms were found as 3 farms and all cervid at
these farms were culled and subjected to CWD diagnosis. Three elks and 5
crossbreeds (Red deer and Sika deer) were confirmed as positive at farm 2.
All cervids at Farm 3 and Farm 4 – 15 elks and 47 elks – were culled and
confirmed as negative.
Further epidemiological investigations showed that these CWD outbreaks were
linked to the importation of elks from Canada in 1994 based on circumstantial
evidences.
In December 2010, one elk was confirmed as positive at Farm 5.
Consequently, all cervid – 3 elks, 11 Manchurian Sika deer and 20 Sika deer –
were culled and one Manchurian Sika deer and seven Sika deer were found to be
positive. This is the first report of CWD in these sub-species of deer.
Epidemiological investigations found that the owner of the Farm 2 in CWD
outbreaks in July 2010 had co-owned the Farm 5.
In addition, it was newly revealed that one positive elk was introduced
from Farm 6 of Jinju-si Gyeongsang Namdo. All cervid – 19 elks, 15 crossbreed
(species unknown) and 64 Sika deer – of Farm 6 were culled, but all confirmed as
negative.
: Corresponding author: Dr. Hyun-Joo Sohn (+82-31-467-1867, E-mail:
shonhj@korea.kr) 2011 Pre-congress Workshop: TSEs in animals and their
environment 5
Friday, May 13, 2011
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) outbreaks and surveillance program in the
Republic of Korea
*** The potential impact of prion diseases on human health was greatly
magnified by the recognition that interspecies transfer of BSE to humans by beef
ingestion resulted in vCJD. While changes in animal feed constituents and
slaughter practices appear to have curtailed vCJD, there is concern that CWD of
free-ranging deer and elk in the U.S. might also cross the species barrier.
Thus, consuming venison could be a source of human prion disease. Whether BSE
and CWD represent interspecies scrapie transfer or are newly arisen prion
diseases is unknown. Therefore, the possibility of transmission of prion disease
through other food animals cannot be ruled out. There is evidence that vCJD can
be transmitted through blood transfusion. There is likely a pool of unknown size
of asymptomatic individuals infected with vCJD, and there may be asymptomatic
individuals infected with the CWD equivalent. These circumstances represent a
potential threat to blood, blood products, and plasma supplies.
snip...see more here ;
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
After the storm? UK blood safety and the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease
TSS
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. at
9:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home