Chronic Wasting Disease: TEXAS CWD, Have you been ThunderStruck, deer semen, straw bred bucks, super ovulation, and the potential TSE Prion connection, what if?

TEXAS CWD, Have you been ThunderStruck, deer semen, straw bred bucks, super ovulation, and the potential TSE Prion connection, what if?

Man admits to snatching “Diablo” the Texas buck’s semen. (updated)

Posted on July 12, 2012 | By Dane Schiller

A breeding deer not related to the investigation. James Nielson/ Houston Chronicle)

Court papers made public Friday offer more details in the case of an an Illinois man pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining deer semen from a Texas buck named “Diablo.”

Raymond Favero, 55, specifically pleaded guilty to the charge of acquisition of wild life in interstate commerce in violation of state law before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith K. Guthrie.

Court papers state that in February 2007, Favero acquired 184 straws of whitetail deer semen valued at about $92,000 from a buck named “Diablo'” that he knew had been illegally taken out of Texas, and again in January 2008 took another 110 straws of semen from a buck named “Thunderstruck.” (Read more in the court paper posted at the bottom of this entry.)

He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, according to a the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

If an agreement with prosecutors is accepted by a judge, he will serve 5 years of probation and pay a fine of $150,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Lacey Act Reward Account, and another $50,000 in community restitution to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

The case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

UPDATE: This case looks like it is related to the one involving Billy Powell, a Cherokee County deer breeder who agreed in 2011 to pay a $1.5 million fine as part of pleading guilty to illegally transporting wildlife. See the charges against Powell in the document posted below. His plea agreement, however, remains sealed.

Shannon Tompkins, our resident deer expert, shared some wisdom with me on this matter. Here is what he had to say:

The reason the feds and the state take this so seriously is that unregulated movement of deer and other cervids (elk, sika deer, etc.) can and has spread incredibly destructive, virulent, communicable diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease – the deer version of Mad Cow.

The prions that cause CWD are found in deer body fluids. The disease can take as much as five years to manifest, during which time the infected deer can infect others or “shed” prions that remain viable for, some research indicates, 15 years or more. There is no live test for the disease. You have to kill a deer and test its brain stem.

This is serious stuff. Not only is an incredible natural resource at risk – CWD rather easily spreads from penned deer into the wild population – but it also threatens recreational deer hunting which is hugely important economically ($2.5 billion or so a year in direct economic impact to Texas from recreational hunting) and socially. Plus, deer are the reason many landowners manage, maintain and improve the environmental quality of their land. Lose the deer, lose incentive to maintain wild places.

Texas has prohibited importing live deer into the state for a decade or so. State and federal officers are constantly working cases of illegal import of deer or other criminal violations of deer-related laws. Many of them are felonies – especially the ones involving violations of the federal Lacey Act.

http://blog.chron.com/narcoconfidential/2012/07/man-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-deer-semen/

https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20110615a

Media Contact: U.S. Attorney’s Office: Davilyn Walston, 409-553-9881 (cell), 509-981-7902 (office), http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txe; Texas Parks & Wildlife: Steve Lightfoot, 512-565-3680 (cell), 512-565-3680 (office), steve.lightfoot@tpwd.texas.gov

June 15, 2011

Cherokee County Deer Breeder Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Deer

Prominent breeder Agreed to Pay $1.5 million for Smuggling Deer into East Texas

TYLER – After a lengthy four year investigation a 77-year-old Cherokee County, Texas licensed deer breeder has pleaded guilty to illegally transporting wildlife in the Eastern District of Texas and then lying about it to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Billy Powell pleaded guilty on June 14, 2011, to the felony offense of smuggling at least 37 whitetail deer, over a 3 year time span, from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio into Texas in violation of state and federal laws. Powell also admitted that he made a false statement and submitted a false document to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent who was looking into the matter. Powell has agreed to pay a $1 million fine, to be deposited into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Lacy Act Reward Fund, as well as $500,000.00 in restitution to Texas Parks and Wildlife, on his sentencing date. Powell’s agreement with the government calls for Powell to serve 3 years probation with six months of home confinement which will be monitored with an electric anklet. During the term of probation, Powell will be prohibited from participating in any manner in commercial deer breeding. Additionally, Powell must forfeit any illegally imported deer, any progeny of those deer, and any biological material derived from said deer, which would include any semen, antlers, mounts, and cloned deer. Powell has already forfeited over 1,300 straws of frozen semen valued at approximately $961,500.00 to U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

According to information presented in court, on at least four separate occasions, spanning from October 2006 through June 2008, Powell knowingly imported at least 37 live whitetail deer, many of whom came from captive deer farms in Ligonier, Indiana, into the state of Texas and to his “5-P Farms”, high fenced deer breeding facility in Cherokee County Texas. These deer included bucks known as “Fat Boy” aka “Barry”, “Silver Storm” aka “Hit Man”, “Y 009", “Eagle Storm” aka “BJ”, “Thunderstruck”, “High Five”, and “Primer” aka “Spikes”. At all times Powell knew that Texas law prohibited any person from possessing a deer acquired from an out-of-state source. In spite of this, Powell agreed to participate in the above-described transactions in which whitetail deer would be secretly transported from Illinois, Indiana, and/or Pennsylvania, to Texas in order to evade Texas laws and regulations.

Powell acknowledged that the fair market value of all of the illegally imported, whitetail deer exceeded approximately $800,000.00, that the value of the illegally accumulated white-tailed deer semen exceeded approximately $961,000.00, and that the value of the progeny exceeded approximately $290,000.00.

Powell further admitted that he lied to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Special Agent during a voluntary statement at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tyler, Texas. Powell told the agent that he had illegally imported approximately 35 white-tailed deer into the state of Texas when in fact he knew that he had illegally imported no less than 41 white-tailed deer, including 6 white-tail deer fawns. During the same statement, Powell also submitted lists identifying 35 white-tailed deer as the total number of white-tailed deer that he had illegally imported into the state of Texas when he knew that he had actually illegally imported no less than 41 white-tailed, including 6 white-tail deer fawns.

Findings of the investigation also prompted the Wildlife Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to conduct an epidemiological investigation in consultation with veterinarians and wildlife disease experts from Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Department of State Health Services, and Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and accredited veterinarians actively involved in the deer breeding industry. This process was carried out in three separate phases. Ultimately all 334 deer contained in Powell’s deer breeding facility were euthanized to facilitate testing for chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis (TB). This process was necessary in order to provide an acceptable level of assurance that neither disease was prevalent in Powell’s deer breeding facility nor in any deer breeding facility that had received deer from Powell’s facility since October 2004.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has had an intensive CWD surveillance program since 2002, and this disease has yet to be detected in Texas. Likewise, bovine tuberculosis has not been detected in any Texas deer population. However, illegal entry of white-tailed deer from other states poses a serious risk of introducing these diseases and others into Texas. Introduction of these diseases into Texas could have a detrimental impact on the longtime cultural tradition of deer hunting, which generates an estimated $1.2 billion in retail sales and has a total economic output of more than $2 billion in Texas each year. Disease monitoring is also necessary to protect legal deer breeding activity from risk of disease exposure. Furthermore, bovine tuberculosis could have a significant impact on the Texas livestock industry. Prevention is the most effective tool to combat diseases because once established in wild populations, these diseases are extremely difficult, if not impossible to eradicate.

Since no live-animal test for CWD exists, TPWD consulted with trained experts to ensure the most humane euthanasia method and treatment of the animals was used. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials are presently awaiting the test results for the tissue samples submitted to the Texas Veterinarian Medical Diagnostic Laboratory located in College Station, TX

This case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas Parks and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

2011-06-15

https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20110615a

The Bucks Stop Here When deer breeder Billy Powell was nabbed for smuggling more than forty whitetails onto his East Texas farm, his case was hailed as the highest-dollar crime of its kind in history. But was he just a casualty of our ever-rabid hunting culture? by Lee Hancock January 2012

attention in October 2007, when an anonymous tipster confided that the East Texas breeder was going to add a couple of massive, out-of-state bucks to his operation. Sure enough, over the next year, Chappell and Merida heard more and more gossip—including rumors from as far away as Michigan—about the two behemoths that had arrived at 5P Farms. Then, in December 2008, they saw an ad that Powell had placed in the Texas Deer Association magazine to sell semen from two prize bucks, named Hit Man and Barry. The ad included photographs of the animals, and on closer inspection, they appeared to be two well-known breeder bucks, named Silver Storm and Fat Boy, from Indiana and Pennsylvania, respectively. The ad listed Hit Man’s score as 275 and Barry’s as 400-plus. “That pretty well confirmed we were onto something big,” Chappell told me.

Perhaps because he took such a dim view of the ban on imported deer, or perhaps because he was one of the richest men in Cherokee County, Powell did little to cover his tracks. He let visitors gawk at his prize bucks. He emailed photos to potential customers. Internet chatter among breeders pointed to the animals’ uncanny resemblance to the out-of-state bucks. As Powell filled orders for straws of semen, some of the deliveries bore labels with the bucks’ old names, while others featured their new monikers. “Everybody in the business knew what Billy was doing,” Merida told me. He and Chappell prepared to visit 5P Farms in the fall of 2009, but Powell, aware of the agents’ interest, took a preemptive step: he hired one of the region’s best-known criminal defense lawyers, a Tyler attorney with the auspicious name of Buck Files. Files got to work immediately on negotiating a deal, but Powell’s luck was running out. By the end of 2010, his foreman and his out-of-state deer broker had caved to pressure and agreed to testify against him if necessary. Investigators also played their trump card: they warned that Powell’s grandson, a deer breeder, could face prosecution too.

Powell was cornered. He surrendered 1,300 straws of semen, worth nearly $1 million, as well as a roomful of antlers and mounted deer heads. In June 2011 he pleaded guilty to smuggling more than $800,000 worth of deer from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio and lying about it to investigators. (In exchange, prosecutors agreed to let his grandson plead guilty to misdemeanors.) Texas Deer Association officials booted Powell from their membership, telling reporters that news stories about deerzillas ignored their industry’s contributions. “We know how to improve our deer to keep Texas a destination state, so that people want to come and shoot a trophy in the pasture, not a freak in a pen with a rocking chair on its head,” said Kinsel.

When Powell learned that Texas Parks and Wildlife big-game biologists planned to euthanize 334 of his breeding deer, he put up one last fight. He had a prominent deer expert examine his animals to confirm that they came from closely monitored, disease-free breeding operations and to argue that there wasn’t a scientific basis for slaughter. He also hired a civil lawyer, who proposed that the deer be sent to a ranch in Mexico or donated to A&M for study. It was no use: workers descended on Powell’s farm to anesthetize the whitetails, kill them with a bolt gun to the skull, and sever their heads for testing. On the final killing day, the bloodied, headless bodies were piled four feet high into a twenty-foot utility trailer; it took five trailerloads to haul all the carcasses away for burial. The agency’s stated aim was to ensure that the animals were free of diseases that plague wild deer in other states. (There is currently no method to test live deer for chronic wasting disease.) “In no way was this a punitive action,” Mitch Lockwood, the head of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s big-game program, said in November. “We’re not going to euthanize deer to punish a person.”

But within the deer industry—where disease concerns are seen more as hysteria than science—many considered the move a massacre. “It was a terrible thing and a huge message,” Kinsel told me. Among the 22 states that allow commercial breeding, only Texas and Alabama ban whitetail imports; even so, Texas does allow entry for other commercially bred animals, like elk, that are also known to carry and spread disease. (They are considered “nontraditional livestock.”) Though he was careful not to criticize Texas Parks and Wildlife, Kinsel told me that the state’s rule book clearly needs changing.

Several months after the slaughter, test results showed that Powell’s deer were free of disease. Paradoxically, the kill order had excluded any deer that had been turned out to his pastures, even though they had been in and around the same pens as the condemned animals. For Powell, these seeming contradictions are evidence of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s unchecked power. “They do not like deer breeders,” he said, eyes flashing, as we rode around 5P Farms. His confiscated deer semen will soon be sold at auction, much as authorities do with drug dealers’ seized Hummers and Escalades, and as part of his plea deal, he is cooperating with Merida in a federal investigation of other prominent deer men.

These days, Powell spends his time puttering with cattle and checking on the stock-pond bluegills and bass he’s fattening with a mechanical fish feeder. He drives around his property, keeping a lookout for his remaining whitetails. “I think at the end of three years,” he told me as we toured his farm, “I’ll have a real good deer crop out there.” The sunlight dwindled, and Powell turned toward home to beat his house-arrest curfew. We passed a barbed-wire fence lined with bleached antlers, all of them from pen-bred bucks. The shed horns made the antlers of wild deer look puny, Powell told me. “Those local deer aren’t worth shooting.” He spoke with palpable longing about the days when he had dispatched a King Air turboprop to retrieve the eggs of a super-doe he owned in Missouri, or when other breeders had counseled him to hand-feed bucks Viagra—advice he didn’t get to try before being run out of business. In the 2010 deer season, the last year he had been able to breed or hunt, half of the forty bucks shot at 5P Farms had scored over 200.

“Brought in a little over $200,000,” Powell said, shaking his head. “Best year we ever had.”

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bucks-stop-here

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bucks-stop-here/page/0/1

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bucks-stop-here/page/0/2

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bucks-stop-here/page/0/3

From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 1:40 PM

To: Terry Singeltary Sr.

Subject: PrPSc Detection and Infectivity in Semen from Scrapie-Infected Sheep

PrPSc Detection and Infectivity in Semen from Scrapie-Infected Sheep

Richard Rubenstein1,5, Marie S Bulgin2, Binggong Chang1, Sharon Sorensen-Melson2, Robert B Petersen3 and Giuseppe LaFauci4 + Author Affiliations

1 SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA; 2 University of Idaho, Caldwell, ID, USA; 3 Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; 4 NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY, USA ↵5 E-mail: richard.rubenstein@downstate.edu Received 13 October 2011. Accepted 3 February 2012.

Abstract

A scrapie-positive ewe was found in a flock that had been scrapie free for 13 years, but housed adjacent to scrapie-positive animals, separated by a wire fence. Live animal testing of the entire flock of 24 animals revealed 7 more subclinical scrapie-positive ewes. We hypothesized that they may have contracted the disease from scrapie-positive rams used for breeding four months prior, possibly through the semen. The genotypes of the ewe flock were highly scrapie-susceptible and the rams were infected with the "Caine" Scrapie Strain having a short incubation time of 4.3-14.6 mo. in sheep with 136/171 VQ/VQ and AQ/VQ genotypes. PrPSc accumulates in a variety of tissues in addition to the central nervous system. Although transmission of prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, has been achieved via peripheral organ or tissue homogenates as well as by blood transfusion, neither infectivity nor PrPSc have been found in semen from scrapie-infected animals. Using serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification followed by a surround optical fiber immunoassay, we demonstrate that semen from rams infected with a short incubation time scrapie strain contains prion disease-associated seeding activity that generated PrPSc in sPMCA. Injection of the ovinized transgenic mouse line TgSShpPrP with semen from scrapie-infected sheep resulted in PrPSc seeding activity in clinical and, probably as a result of the low titer, nonclinical mouse brain. These results suggest that the transmissible agent, or at least the seeding activity, for sheep scrapie is present in semen. This may be a strain specific phenomenon.

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/02/vir.0.038802-0.abstract

http://jgv.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.038802-0#tab2

Anderson, Jeanette Hayes-Klug, Amy Nalls, and Candace Mathiason Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO USA

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), of free-ranging and captive cervids (deer, elk and moose).

The presence of infectious prions in the tissues, bodily fluids and environments of clinical and preclinical CWD-infected animals is thought to account for its high transmission efficiency. Recently it has been recognized that mother to offspring transmission may contribute to the facile transmission of some TSEs. Although the mechanism behind maternal transmission is not yet known, the extended asymptomatic TSE carrier phase (lasting years to decades) suggests that it may have implications in the spread of prions.

Placental trafficking and/or secretion in milk are 2 means by which maternal prion transmission may occur. In these studies we explore these avenues during early and late infection using a transgenic mouse model expressing cervid prion protein. Na€ıve and CWD-infected dams were bred at both timepoints, and were allowed to bear and raise their offspring. Milk was collected from the dams for prion analysis, and the offspring were observed for TSE disease progression. Terminal tissues harvested from both dams and offspring were analyzed for prions.

We have demonstrated that

(1) CWDinfected TgCerPRP females successfully breed and bear offspring, and

(2) the presence of PrPCWD in reproductive and mammary tissue from CWD-infected dams.

We are currently analyzing terminal tissue harvested from offspring born to CWD-infected dams for the detection of PrPCWD and amplification competent prions. These studies will provide insight into the potential mechanisms and biological significance associated with mother to offspring transmission of TSEs.

https://prion2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/prion2015abstracts.pdf

*** PITUITARY EXTRACT ***

This was used to help cows super ovulate. This tissue was considered to be of greatest risk of containing BSE and consequently transmitting the disease...

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or superovulationcwdtsepriondocious ?

Superovulation and embryo recovery in Red deer (Cervus elaphus ) hinds.

Fennessy PF1, Fisher MW, Shackell GH, Mackintosh CG. Author information 1Invermay Agricultural Centre Private Bag Mosgiel New Zealand.

Abstract

In two experiments, Red deer hinds were synchronized with intravaginal progesterone and were given 4 d of treatment (3 d before progesterone withdrawal and 1 d after) with an ovine follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) preparation which had a claimed low level of luteinizing hormone (LH) contamination. In Experiment 1, 12 hinds received one of four FSH levels by osmotic minipump. Hinds were run with fertile stags, and laparotomy and embryo recovery were performed 9 d after progesterone withdrawal. The ovulation rates (mean of three hinds per dosage) were 1.0, 2.0, 4.3 and 15.3 (number of corpora lutea counted) for estimated daily dosages rates of 0.036, 0.071, 0.11 and 0.14 units FSH preparation/day; the response to the increasing dosage was exponential (P<0 .01="" 0.14="" 11.0="" 18="" 1="" 2="" 3.0="" 34="" 38="" 47="" 63="" 72="" a="" all="" an="" and="" be="" being="" better="" both="" breeding="" by="" considered="" day="" deer="" difference="" div="" eight="" either="" estrus="" experiment="" fertilized="" flushing="" for="" fsh="" function="" higher="" hinds="" improved="" in="" injection.="" intramuscular="" later="" mean="" minipump="" of="" on="" only="" or="" ova="" overall="" ovulation="" p="" performed="" perhaps="" preparation="" previously="" profile="" progesterone="" quality.="" rate="" rates="" received="" recorded="" recovered="" recovery="" red="" respectively="" results="" season="" significant="" significantly="" synchronization.="" than="" that="" the="" those="" to="" transferable="" units="" used="" was="" were="" with="">

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0093691X89904767

>> ovine follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)

F8174 Sigma Follicle Stimulating Hormone from sheep pituitary Synonym: FSH

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/f8174?lang=en&region=US

Louping-ill vaccine sheep scrapie blunder

Vaccine for issue had to be free from detectable, living virus and capable of protecting sheep against a test dose of virus applied subcutaneously. The 1935 vaccine conformed to these standards and was issued for inoculation in March as three separate batches labelled 1, 2, and 3. The tissues of 140 sheep were employed to make batch 1 of which 22,270 doses were used; 114 to make batch 2 of which 18,000 doses were used and 44 to make batch 3 of which 4,360 doses were used. All the sheep tissues incorporated in the vaccine were obtained from yearling sheep. During 1935 and 1936 the vaccine proved highly efficient in the prevention of loup-ill and no user observed an ill-effect in the inoculated animals. In September, 1937, two and a half years after vaccinating the sheep, two owners complained that scrapie, a disease which had not before been observed in the Blackface breed, was appearing in their stock of Blackface sheep and further that it was confined to animals vaccinated with louping-ill vaccine in 1935. At that stage it was difficult to conceive that the occurrence could be associated with the injection of the vaccine but in view of the implications, I visited most of the farms on which sheep had been vaccinated in 1935. It was at this point that the investigation reached its dramatic phase; I shall not forget the profound effect on my emotions when I visited these farms and was warmly welcomed because of the great benefits resulting from the application of louping-ill vaccine, wheras the chief purpose of my visit was to determine if scrapie was appearing in the inoculated sheep. The enquiry made the position clear. Scrapie was developing in the sheep vaccinated in 1935 and it was only in a few instances that the owner was associating the occurrence with louping-ill vaccination. The disease was affecting all breeds and it was confined to the animals vaccinated with batch 2. This was clearly demonstrated on a number of farms on which batch 1 had been used to inoculate the hoggs in 1935 and batch 2 to inoculate the ewes. None of the hoggs, which at this time were three- year-old ewes. At this time it was difficult to forecast whether all of the 18,000 sheep which had received batch 2 vaccine would develop scrapie. It was fortunate, however, that the majority of the sheep vaccinated with batch 2 were ewes and therfore all that were four years old and upwards at the time of vaccination had already been disposed of and there only remained the ewes which had been two to three years old at the time of vaccination, consequently no accurate assessment of the incidence of scrapie could be made. On a few farms, however, where vaccination was confined to hoggs, the incidence ranged from 1 percent, to 35 percent, with an average of about 5 percent. Since batch 2 vaccine had been incriminated as a probable source of scrapie infection, an attempt was made to trace the origin of the 112 sheep whose tissues had been included in the vaccine. It was found that they had been supplied by three owners and that all were of the Blackface or Greyface breed with the exception of eight which were Cheviot lambs born in 1935 from ewes which had been in contact with scrapie infection. Some of these contact ewes developed scrapie in 1936-37 and three surviving fellow lambs to the eight included in the batch 2 vaccine of 1935 developed scrapie, one in September, 1936, one in February, 1937, and one in November, 1937. There was, therefore, strong presumptive evidence that the eight Cheviot lambs included in the vaccine althought apparently healthy were, in fact, in the incubative stage of a scrapie infection and that in their tissues there was an infective agent which had contaminated the batch 2 vaccine, rendering it liable to set up scrapie. If that assumption was correct then the evidence indicated that:-

(1) the infective agent of scrapie was present in the brain, spinal cord and or spleen of infected sheep: (2) it could withstand a concentration of formalin of 0-35 percent, which inactivated the virus of louping-ill: (3) it could be transmitted by subcutaneous inoculation; (4) it had an incubative period of two years and longer.

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/slides/3681s2_09.pdf

see part of old report I received;

http://www.whale.to/v/singeltary.html

see vaccines;

http://bseinquiry.blogspot.com/2008/05/mad-cow-disease-bse-cjd-children.html

(It was noted with concern that hormone extracts could be manufactured by a veterinary surgeon for administration to animals under his care without any Medicines Act Control.)

PITUITARY EXTRACT

This was used to help cows super ovulate.

*** This tissue was considered to be of greatest risk of containing BSE and consequently transmitting the disease. ***

BEEF BRAIN AND BRAIN INFUSION BROTHS

Considered to be of great risk.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143059/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/08011001.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143101/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/10001001.pdf

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;72:792-793 doi:10.1136/jnnp.72.6.792 Short report

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 38 years after diagnostic use of human growth hormone

E A Croes1, G Roks1,*, G H Jansen3, P C G Nijssen2, C M van Duijn1

+ Author Affiliations 1Genetic Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands 2Department of Neurology, St Elisabeth Hospital, PO Box 90151, 5000 LC Tilburg, Netherlands 3Department of Pathology, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands

Correspondence to: Professor C M van Duijn, Genetic Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands; vanduijn@epib.fgg.eur.nl Received 27 December 2001 Accepted 12 March 2002 Revised 1 March 2002

Abstract

A 47 year old man is described who developed pathology proven Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) 38 years after receiving a low dose of human derived growth hormone (hGH) as part of a diagnostic procedure. The patient presented with a cerebellar syndrome, which is compatible with iatrogenic CJD. This is the longest incubation period described so far for iatrogenic CJD. Furthermore, this is the first report of CJD after diagnostic use of hGH. Since the patient was one of the first in the world to receive hGH, other cases of iatrogenic CJD can be expected in the coming years.

snip...

An incubation period as long as 38 years had never been reported for iatrogenic CJD. Huillard d'Aignaux et al7 studied the incubation period in 55 patients with hGH related CJD in a cohort of 1361 French hGH recipients. The median incubation period was between 9 and 10 years. Under the most pessimistic model, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval varied between 17 and 20 years. Although the infecting dose cannot be quantified, it can be speculated that the long incubation period in our patient is partly explained by the administration of a limited amount of hGH. This hypothesis is supported by experimental models, in which higher infecting doses usually produce shorter incubation periods.6 Since our patient was one of the first in the world to receive hGH, this case indicates that still more patients with iatrogenic CJD can be expected in the coming years. Another implication of our study is that CJD can develop even after a low dose of hGH. This case once more testifies that worldwide close monitoring of any form of iatrogenic CJD is mandatory.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/72/6/792.long

SHORT REPORT

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 38 years after diagnostic use of human growth hormone

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-of-human-pituitary-trust-account.html

the warning shots fired over the bow of the boat that were never heard ;

PITUITARY EXTRACT

This was used to help cows super ovulate. This tissue was considered to be of greatest risk of containing BSE and consequently transmitting the disease...

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143059/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/08011001.pdf

NON-LICENSED HUMAN TISSUE DEVICES WERE NOT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE

snip...

I was quite prepared to believe in unofficial pituitary hormones, also in the 1970's, whether as described by Dr. Little, or in other circumstances, for animal use.

snip...

The fact that there were jars of pituitaries (or extract) around on shelves is attested by the still potent 1943 pituitaries, described in Stockell Hartree et al. (J/RF/17/291) which had come from the lab. at Mill Hill. Having taken the trouble to collect them, they were not lightly thrown out...

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143039/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/ws/s467bx.pdf

3. The extraction is from a pool of pituitary glands collected from abbatoirs and the process used is unlikely to have any effect on the BSE agent. Hormones extracted from human pituitary glands have been responsible for a small number of Creutzfeldt Jacob disease in man.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143101/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/10001001.pdf

SEE LOOPHOLE ;

https://web.archive.org/web/20090506071437/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/13008001.pdf

SEE LOOPHOLE SHOULD BE CLOSED ;

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143112/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/13010001.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20090718143117/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/14006001.pdf

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002]Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003]The field of embryo transfer is growing in each animal sector in which multiple offspring are desirable. There were over 130,000 donor cattle superovulated worldwide in 2006 and the number of transferred embryos increased by 10% to over 670,000 (IETS Newsletter December 2007). In the United States, there were an estimated 52,000 donors superovulated in 2006 (AETA Annual Report 2006). The current superovulation protocols all require multiple injections of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) twice daily over the course of at least 4 days. The FSH currently used is animal derived, impure and has the propensity to be infectious. The invention described herein is a long-acting FSH analog that is effective in causing superovulation with a single injection. Furthermore, this FSH analog is highly purified and free of infectious vectors and other contaminants.

[0004]There are over nine million dairy cows in the United States, over one million in Canada and over fifty million worldwide. The dairy industry is extremely competitive and the ability of a dairy to increase the efficiency of breeding and to maintain pregnancies post insemination is critical to the profitability of the producer. It is estimated that the cost of a non-pregnant cow is about five dollars per day. It is further estimated that current inseminations result in approximately twenty to thirty-five percent pregnant cows at day 45 and of those cows ninety to ninety-five percent deliver calves at the end of the 283-day gestation period. However, reproductive efficiency in dairy cattle has been declining steadily over a prolonged period of time. The magnitude and the consistency of this trend are of great importance to the dairy industry and amount to a steady decline of approximately one percent in first service conception rates per year for the last ten years. The impact of this change in productivity has not been readily apparent, because individual cow milk production has increased by twenty percent over the same period. In the long run, the dairy industry cannot afford to continue the current rate of declining reproductive performance.

[0005]Declining reproductive efficiency of dairy cattle has been observed throughout the United States, and other parts of the world where milk production has been increasing (Lucy, M. C. (2001) "Reproductive loss in high-producing dairy cattle: Where will it end?," J. Dairy Sci., 84:1277-1293; Roche et al. (2000) "Reproductive management of postpartum cows," Anim. Reprod. Sci., 60-61:703-712; Royal et al. (2000) "Declining fertility in dairy cattle: changes in traditional and endocrine parameters of fertility," Anim. Sci., 70:487-502; and Macmillan et al. (1996) "The effects of lactation on the fertility of dairy cows" Aust. Vet. J, 73:141-147). Numerous features may negatively influence fertility in dairy cows, including negative energy balance and disease events such as retained placenta, ketosis, cystic ovary, and mastitis (Lucy 2001, supra; and Staples et al. (1990) "Relationship between ovarian activity and energy status during the early postpartum period of high producing dairy cows," J. Dairy Sci., 73:938-947). Furthermore, a prominent trend in the U.S. dairy industry is decreased number of dairy farms, steadily increasing herd size, and movement of dairy production to the western states (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, http//www.usda.gov/nass). Larger herd size may contribute to decreased reproductive performance because of the associated changes in the dairy labor force and cow management, resulting in poorly trained or over tasked workers identifying estrus behavior, performing artificial insemination, conducting estrus synchronization programs, and identifying and treating sick cows (Lucy 2001, supra). Heat stress, which occurs throughout much of the year in western and southwestern US dairy herds, has significant negative impact on cattle fertility (Wolfenson et al. (2000) "Impaired reproduction in heat-stressed cattle: basic and applied aspects," Anim. Reprod. Sci., 60-61:535-547).

[0006]The primary revenue source in the dairy industry is milk production. Progress in genetics and management of dairy cows has led to remarkable increases in milk production throughout the last several decades, with a twenty percent increase in per-cow production in the last ten years alone (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, http//www.usda.gov/nass). In order to maintain high herd productivity, however, cows must become pregnant and deliver a calf so that the lactation cycle is renewed. Additionally, sufficient numbers of heifers must be produced to replace older cows. Therefore, the future productivity of the dairy industry is very dependent on the maintenance of fertility and reproduction.

[0007]The ability to increase reproductive performance in horses, cattle or other ungulates would have a significant economic benefit to owners. This can be achieved through increasing fertility as well as improving pregnancy maintenance throughout the gestation period to prevent pregnancy losses. Recent studies with ultrasonic pregnancy detection demonstrate embryonic losses in cattle of at least 20% between 28 and 60 days of pregnancy (Pursley et al. (1998) "Effect of time of artificial insemination on pregnancy rates, calving rates, pregnancy loss, and gender ratio after synchronization of ovulation in lactating dairy cows," J. Dairy Sci., 81:2139-2144; and Vasconcelos et al. (1997) "Pregnancy rate, pregnancy loss, and response to heat stress after AI at 2 different times from ovulation in dairy cows" Biol. Reprod., 56 (Supp. 1):140). There are likely even higher losses prior to 28 days that are undetected by ultrasound examination (Lucy 2001, supra). Data suggest that modern dairy cows fail to establish pregnancy because of suboptimal uterine environment (Gustafsson, H. and K. Larsson (1985) "Embryonic mortality in heifers after artificial insemination and embryo transfer: differences between virgin and repeat breeder heifers," Res. Vet. Sci., 39:271-274). Although there are numerous possible factors that could be responsible for embryonic losses, one potential cause is low blood progesterone concentration.

[0008]Currently, several hormone therapies are used to increase fertility or to maintain pregnancy. Thatcher et al. (2001 Theriogenology 55:75-89) describes the effects of hormonal treatments on the reproductive performance of cattle. Hormonal treatments include administration of bovine somatotrophin (bST) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). D'Occhio et al. (2000 Anim. Reprod. Sci. 60-61:433-442) describes various strategies for beef cattle management using gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist implants. De Rensis et al. (2002 Theriogenology 58(9):1675-1687) describes the effect on dairy cows of administering GnRH or hCG before artificial insemination. Martinez et al. (1999 Anim. Reprod. Sci. 57:23-33) describes the ability of porcine luteinizing hormone (LH) and GnRH to induce follicular wave emergence in beef heifers on Days 3, 6, and 9 of the estrus cycle, after ovulation (Day 0), without insemination. Santos et al. (2001 J. Animal Science 79:2881-2894) describes the effect on reproductive performance of intramuscular administration of 3,300 IU of hCG to high-producing dairy cows on Day 5 after artificial insemination. Lee et al. (1983 Am. J. Vet. Res. 44(11):2160-2163) describes the effect on dairy cows of administering GnRH at the time of artificial insemination. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,792,785 (issued Aug. 11, 1998) and 6,403,631 (issued Jun. 11, 2002) describe methods and compositions for administering melatonin before and after insemination to enhance pregnancy success in an animal. Chagas e Silva et al. (2002 Theriogenology 58(1):51-59) describes plasma progesterone profiles following embryo transfer in dairy cattle. Weems et al. (1998 Prostaglandins and other Lipid Mediators) describes the effects of hormones on the secretion of progesterone by corpora lutea (CL) from non-pregnant and pregnant cows. U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,451 (issued Oct. 25, 1988) describes compositions and methods using LH and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) to produce superovulation in cattle. Farin et al. (1988 Biol. Reprod. 38:413-421) describes the effect on ovine luteal weight of intravenous administration of 300 IU of hCG on Days 5 and 7.5 of the estrus cycle, without insemination. Hoyer and Niswender (1985 Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 63(3):240-248) describe the regulation of steroidogenesis in ovine luteal cells. Juengel and Niswender (1999 J. Reprod. Fertil. Suppl. 54:193-205) describe the molecular regulation of luteal progesterone in domestic ruminants. U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,457 (issued Dec. 31, 1996) describes methods for synchronizing ovulation in cattle using GnRH, LH, and/or hCG and PGF2a.

[0009]Many of these treatments use hormones or hormone analogs from the glycoprotein hormone family, which consists of the pituitary proteins luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and chorionic gonadotropin (CG). The gonadotropins, which include CG, FSH and LH, are essential for reproductive function. They are heterodimers composed of two non-covalently associated a and ß subunits. Both subunits are glycosylated, containing asparagine (N)-linked oligosaccharides and, in the case of the CGß subunit, O-linked carbohydrates are also present in a cluster of amino acids at the C-terminus. The individual human ß subunits are encoded by separate genes, and the LHß and CGß proteins are structurally and functionally similar; having more than 80% amino acid identity (Pierce J G, Parsons (1981) "Glycoprotein hormones: structure and function," Biochem. 50:465-495). Within a species, the a subunit amino acid sequence is common to all four hormones (Pierce J G, Parsons (1981) Biochem. 50:465-495).

[0010]In order to use gonadotropins to improve reproduction efficiency in animals, the availability of purified proteins is essential. Currently, the sources for gonadotropins are serum and whole pituitary extracts. To obtain sufficient quantities of these native hormones for such work is expensive and difficult. Pituitary extracts can be effective reproductive therapeutics but contain contaminants and may vary in their amounts of LH and FSH. Preparations of pure pituitary gonadotropins without cross-contamination are not readily available. Given the problem of animal-to-animal variation of native gonadotropins and the charge heterogeneity in the N-linked carbohydrates, the ability to generate the corresponding recombinant proteins will yield gonadotropins of a more homogeneous composition that can be standardized with respect to mass and bioactivity. Such proteins will be critical for calibrating clinical laboratory assays and for breeding management, such as shortening the time to ovulation in transitional and cycling mares for natural breeding and artificial insemination. The use of recombinant forms, as opposed to hormones extracted from serum and pituitary tissue, would avoid the co-contamination of pathogens and agents with a propensity to cause prion related diseases.

http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080312151

Review Risks of transmitting ruminant spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) by semen and embryo transfer techniques

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

A.E. Wrathalla, , , G.R. Holyoakb, I.M. Parsonsonc and H.A. Simmonsa

aAnimal Services Unit, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodham Road, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, United Kingdom

bOklahoma State University, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA

c1 Coape St., Cheltenham, Victoria 3192, Australia

Received 18 March 2008; revised 12 May 2008; accepted 14 May 2008. Available online 30 June 2008.

Abstract Early experiments suggested that scrapie transmission via sheep embryos was a possibility, and gave rise to much controversy. However, when account is taken of the complex genetic effects on ovine susceptibility to scrapie, and of the several different scrapie strains with different clinical and pathological effects, the overall conclusion now is that transmission of classical scrapie by embryo transfer is very unlikely if appropriate precautions are taken. Recent embryo transfer studies have confirmed this. Other studies in sheep have shown that from about the middle of pregnancy the placental trophoblast is liable to scrapie infection in genetically susceptible ewes if the fetus is also susceptible. Since the contrary is also true, use of resistant ewes as embryo recipients could add to the safety of the embryo transfer, at least for classical scrapie. There has been little recent research on scrapie transmission via semen in sheep, and, with hindsight, the early studies, though negative, were inadequate. There is scant information on scrapie transfer via goat semen or embryos, although one study did find that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was not transmitted via goat embryos. In cattle it has been shown that, if appropriate precautions are taken, the risks of transmitting BSE via semen and in vivo-derived embryos are negligible, and this conclusion has gained worldwide acceptance. Research on TSE transmission via reproductive technologies in deer has not yet been done, but information on the pathogenesis and epidemiology of chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer, and on transmission risks in other species, provides optimism that transmission of CWD via semen and embryos of deer is unlikely. The presence of TSE infectivity in blood and various other tissues of infected animals, particularly sheep, gives rise to concerns that certain biological products currently used in reproductive technologies, e.g. pituitary gonadotrophins for superovulation, and certain tissue and blood products used in semen and embryo transfer media, could carry TSE infectivity. Instruments such as laparoscopes used for insemination, and for collection and transfer of embryos, especially in small ruminants, are also a concern because effective decontamination can be very difficult.

Keywords: Semen; Embryos; Placenta; Ruminants; Spongiform encephalopathies; Prion diseases; Import–export

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TCM-4SW858P-1&_user=4973225&_coverDate=09%2F15%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=4973225&md5=4dffa4e6fea4d0a4465c84acb2f69772

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Import Alert 62-07 Sygen Injectable (Bovine-Extracted GMI Monosialoganglioside) manufactured from bovine brain starting material

http://bseusa.blogspot.com/2010/02/import-alert-62-07-sygen-injectable.html

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-of-human-pituitary-trust-account.html

Sunday, February 08, 2015

FDA SCIENCE BOARD TO THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION BOVINE HEPARIN BSE CJD TSE PRION Wednesday, June 4, 2014

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2015/02/fda-science-board-to-food-and-drug.html

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/07/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-or.html

Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas

Friday, July 31, 2015 TEXAS Sum of all Trace-out Movement from CWD captive Medina Facility to date

Sum of all Trace-out Movement from Medina Facility

Values Listed = Breeders, Release Sites, DMP

Sum of all Trace-out

Sum of all Trace-out Movement from Medina Facility

Values Listed = Breeders, Release Sites, DMP

Sum of all Trace-out

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11796408_1068088896536377_7532158494735907949_n.jpg?oh=5b013b6b20c5083039f54c0ce83fe9c2&oe=56510D4D

Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas

Friday, July 31, 2015 TEXAS Sum of all Trace-out Movement from CWD captive Medina Facility to date

Sum of all Trace-out Movement from Medina Facility

Values Listed = Breeders, Release Sites, DMP

Sum of all Trace-out

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/texas-sum-of-all-trace-out-movement.html

Here are two examples of what waiting can look like with CWD ;

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD WISCONSIN Almond Deer (Buckhorn Flats) Farm Update DECEMBER 2011 The CWD infection rate was nearly 80%, the highest ever in a North American captive herd. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board approve the purchase of 80 acres of land for $465,000 for the Statewide Wildlife Habitat Program in Portage County and approve the restrictions on public use of the site.SUMMARY:

http://dnr.wi.gov/about/nrb/2011/december/12-11-2b2.pdf

For Immediate Release Thursday, October 2, 2014

Dustin Vande Hoef 515/281-3375 or 515/326-1616 (cell) or Dustin.VandeHoef@IowaAgriculture.gov

TEST RESULTS FROM CAPTIVE DEER HERD WITH CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE RELEASED 79.8 percent of the deer tested positive for the disease

DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship today announced that the test results from the depopulation of a quarantined captive deer herd in north-central Iowa showed that 284 of the 356 deer, or 79.8% of the herd, tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/press/2014press/press10022014.asp

*** see history of this CWD blunder here ;

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/070313_consent_order.pdf

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/060613_consent_order.pdf

***But details of the plan developed by Texas Animal Health Commission and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which include protocols calling for the killing of more than 200 deer on the Medina County property as well as potentially scores of the more than 700 deer the business sold to other captive-deer operations over the past five years, have ignited long-smoldering acrimony from the captive-deer industry and supporters questioning the disease's effects on deer herds, tactics used by state and federal agencies to prevent its spread, and even the nature of the disease.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Rare-report-of-deer-disease-in-Texas-causes-stir-6387535.php

IF the state of Texas does not get serious real fast with CWD, and test all those deer, that 5 year plan is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

all cervid tested after slaughter, and test results must be released to the public.

the tse prion aka mad cow type disease is not your normal pathogen.

The TSE prion disease survives ashing to 600 degrees celsius, that’s around 1112 degrees farenheit.

you cannot cook the TSE prion disease out of meat.

you can take the ash and mix it with saline and inject that ash into a mouse, and the mouse will go down with TSE.

Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel Production as well.

the TSE prion agent also survives Simulated Wastewater Treatment Processes.

IN fact, you should also know that the TSE Prion agent will survive in the environment for years, if not decades.

you can bury it and it will not go away.

The TSE agent is capable of infected your water table i.e. Detection of protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a CWD-endemic area.

it’s not your ordinary pathogen you can just cook it out and be done with. that’s what’s so worrisome about Iatrogenic mode of transmission, a simple autoclave will not kill this TSE prion agent.

New studies on the heat resistance of hamster-adapted scrapie agent: Threshold survival after ashing at 600°C suggests an inorganic template of replication

http://www.pnas.org/content/97/7/3418.full

Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel Production

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2493038/

Detection of protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a CWD-endemic area

http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/prion/NicholsPRION3-3.pdf

*** Infectious agent of sheep scrapie may persist in the environment for at least 16 years***

Gudmundur Georgsson1, Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3

http://jgv.sgmjournals.org/content/87/12/3737.full

Longitudinal Detection of Prion Shedding in Saliva and Urine by CWD-Infected Deer by RT-QuIC

Davin M. Henderson1, Nathaniel D. Denkers1, Clare E. Hoover1, Nina Garbino1, Candace K. Mathiason1 and Edward A. Hoover1# + Author Affiliations

1Prion Research Center, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

ABSTRACT Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is an emergent, rapidly spreading prion disease of cervids. Shedding of infectious prions in saliva and urine is thought to be an important factor in CWD transmission. To help elucidate this issue, we applied an in vitro amplification assay to determine the onset, duration, and magnitude of prion shedding in longitudinally collected saliva and urine samples from CWD-exposed white-tailed deer. We detected prion shedding as early as 3 months after CWD exposure and sustained shedding throughout the disease course. We estimated that a 50% lethal dose (LD50) for cervidized transgenic mice would be contained in 1 ml of infected deer saliva or 10 ml or urine. Given the average course of infection and daily production of these body fluids, an infected deer would shed thousands of prion infectious doses over the course of CWD infection. The direct and indirect environmental impact of this magnitude of prion shedding for cervid and non-cervid species is surely significant.

Importance: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging and uniformly fatal prion disease affecting free ranging deer and elk and now recognized in 22 United States and 2 C anadian Provinces. It is unique among prion diseases in that it is transmitted naturally though wild populations. A major hypothesis for CWD's florid spread is that prions are shed in excreta and transmitted via direct or indirect environmental contact. Here we use a rapid in vitro assay to show that infectious doses of CWD prions are in fact shed throughout the multi-year disease course in deer. This finding is an important advance in assessing the risks posed by shed CWD prions to animals as well as humans.

FOOTNOTES

↵#To whom correspondence should be addressed: Edward A. Hoover, Prion Research Center, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, US Email: edward.hoover@colostate.edu

http://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2015/06/26/JVI.01118-15.abstract

Friday, December 14, 2012

DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012

snip...

In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.

Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:

1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and

2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.

Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.

The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.

Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.

There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.

snip...

36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011). The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.

snip...

The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).

snip...

In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.

snip...

In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.

snip...

Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.

snip...

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130822084033/http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/qra_chronic-wasting-disease-121029.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20170404125557/http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130822084033/http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/qra_chronic-wasting-disease-121029.pdf

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION, how much does it pay to find CWD $$$

CWD, spreading it around...

for the game farm industry, and their constituents, to continue to believe that they are _NOT_, and or insinuate that they have _NEVER_ been part of the problem, will only continue to help spread cwd. the game farming industry, from the shooting pens, to the urine mills, the antler mills, the sperm mills, velvet mills, shooting pens, to large ranches, are not the only problem, but it is painfully obvious that they have been part of the problem for decades and decades, just spreading it around, as with transportation and or exportation and or importation of cervids from game farming industry, and have been proven to spread cwd. no one need to look any further than South Korea blunder ;

===========================================

spreading cwd around...

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.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2081988/

spreading cwd around...

Friday, May 13, 2011

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.

http://www.prion2011.ca/files/2011TSEBookletV6Final.pdf

http://www.prion2011.ca/files/PRION_2011_-_Posters_(May_5-11).pdf

http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/news.detail/ID/c792d0e56e0cb3ee3a6517e754729cac

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2011/05/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-outbreaks.html

PRION 2015 CONFERENCE FT. COLLINS CWD RISK FACTORS TO HUMANS

*** LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACTS PRION 2015 CONFERENCE ***

O18

Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions

Liuting Qing1, Ignazio Cali1,2, Jue Yuan1, Shenghai Huang3, Diane Kofskey1, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Wenquan Zou1, Qingzhong Kong1 1Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 2Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy, 3Encore Health Resources, Houston, Texas, USA

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a widespread and expanding prion disease in free-ranging and captive cervid species in North America. The zoonotic potential of CWD prions is a serious public health concern. Current literature generated with in vitro methods and in vivo animal models (transgenic mice, macaques and squirrel monkeys) reports conflicting results. The susceptibility of human CNS and peripheral organs to CWD prions remains largely unresolved. In our earlier bioassay experiments using several humanized transgenic mouse lines, we detected protease-resistant PrPSc in the spleen of two out of 140 mice that were intracerebrally inoculated with natural CWD isolates, but PrPSc was not detected in the brain of the same mice. Secondary passages with such PrPSc-positive CWD-inoculated humanized mouse spleen tissues led to efficient prion transmission with clear clinical and pathological signs in both humanized and cervidized transgenic mice. Furthermore, a recent bioassay with natural CWD isolates in a new humanized transgenic mouse line led to clinical prion infection in 2 out of 20 mice. These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic human carriers of CWD infection.

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***These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic human carriers of CWD infection.***

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P.105: RT-QuIC models trans-species prion transmission

Kristen Davenport, Davin Henderson, Candace Mathiason, and Edward Hoover Prion Research Center; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO USA

The propensity for trans-species prion transmission is related to the structural characteristics of the enciphering and heterologous PrP, but the exact mechanism remains mostly mysterious. Studies of the effects of primary or tertiary prion protein structures on trans-species prion transmission have relied primarily upon animal bioassays, making the influence of prion protein structure vs. host co-factors (e.g. cellular constituents, trafficking, and innate immune interactions) difficult to dissect. As an alternative strategy, we used real-time quakinginduced conversion (RT-QuIC) to investigate trans-species prion conversion.

To assess trans-species conversion in the RT-QuIC system, we compared chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions, as well as feline CWD (fCWD) and feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE). Each prion was seeded into each host recombinant PrP (full-length rPrP of white-tailed deer, bovine or feline). We demonstrated that fCWD is a more efficient seed for feline rPrP than for white-tailed deer rPrP, which suggests adaptation to the new host.

Conversely, FSE maintained sufficient BSE characteristics to more efficiently convert bovine rPrP than feline rPrP. Additionally, human rPrP was competent for conversion by CWD and fCWD. ***This insinuates that, at the level of protein:protein interactions, the barrier preventing transmission of CWD to humans is less robust than previously estimated.

================

***This insinuates that, at the level of protein:protein interactions, the barrier preventing transmission of CWD to humans is less robust than previously estimated.***

================

Willingham, Erin McNulty, Kelly Anderson, Jeanette Hayes-Klug, Amy Nalls, and Candace Mathiason Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO USA

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), of free-ranging and captive cervids (deer, elk and moose).

We have demonstrated that

(1) CWDinfected TgCerPRP females successfully breed and bear offspring, and

(2) the presence of PrPCWD in reproductive and mammary tissue from CWD-infected dams.

==============

P.157: Uptake of prions into plants

Christopher Johnson1, Christina Carlson1, Matthew Keating1,2, Nicole Gibbs1, Haeyoon Chang1, Jamie Wiepz1, and Joel Pedersen1 1USGS National Wildlife Health Center; Madison, WI USA; 2University of Wisconsin - Madison; Madison, WI USA

Soil may preserve chronic wasting disease (CWD) and scrapie infectivity in the environment, making consumption or inhalation of soil particles a plausible mechanism whereby na€ıve animals can be exposed to prions. Plants are known to absorb a variety of substances from soil, including whole proteins, yet the potential for plants to take up abnormal prion protein (PrPTSE) and preserve prion infectivity is not known. In this study, we assessed PrPTSE uptake into roots using laser scanning confocal microscopy with fluorescently tagged PrPTSE and we used serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) and detect and quantify PrPTSE levels in plant aerial tissues. Fluorescence was identified in the root hairs of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as the crop plants alfalfa (Medicago sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) upon exposure to tagged PrPTSE but not a tagged control preparation. Using sPMCA, we found evidence of PrPTSE in aerial tissues of A. thaliana, alfalfa and maize (Zea mays) grown in hydroponic cultures in which only roots were exposed to PrPTSE. Levels of PrPTSE in plant aerial tissues ranged from approximately 4 £ 10 ¡10 to 1 £ 10 ¡9 g PrPTSEg ¡1 plant dry weight or 2 £ 105 to 7 £ 106 intracerebral ID50 unitsg ¡1 plant dry weight. Both stems and leaves of A. thaliana grown in culture media containing prions are infectious when intracerebrally-injected into mice. ***Our results suggest that prions can be taken up by plants and that contaminated plants may represent a previously unrecognized risk of human, domestic species and wildlife exposure to prions.

===========

***Our results suggest that prions can be taken up by plants and that contaminated plants may represent a previously unrecognized risk of human, domestic species and wildlife exposure to prions.***

============

https://prion2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/programguide1.pdf

======

I strenuously once again urge the FDA and its industry constituents, to make it MANDATORY that all ruminant feed be banned to all ruminants, and this should include all cervids as soon as possible for the following reasons...

In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administrations BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system.

***However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.

======

31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT

*** Ruminant feed ban for cervids in the United States? ***

Singeltary et al

31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT

http://www.plosone.org/annotation/listThread.action?root=85351

98 | Veterinary Record | January 24, 2015

EDITORIAL

Scrapie: a particularly persistent pathogen

Cristina Acín

Resistant prions in the environment have been the sword of Damocles for scrapie control and eradication. Attempts to establish which physical and chemical agents could be applied to inactivate or moderate scrapie infectivity were initiated in the 1960s and 1970s,with the first study of this type focusing on the effect of heat treatment in reducing prion infectivity (Hunter and Millson 1964). Nowadays, most of the chemical procedures that aim to inactivate the prion protein are based on the method developed by Kimberlin and collaborators (1983). This procedure consists of treatment with 20,000 parts per million free chlorine solution, for a minimum of one hour, of all surfaces that need to be sterilised (in laboratories, lambing pens, slaughterhouses, and so on). Despite this, veterinarians and farmers may still ask a range of questions, such as ‘Is there an official procedure published somewhere?’ and ‘Is there an international organisation which recommends and defines the exact method of scrapie decontamination that must be applied?’

From a European perspective, it is difficult to find a treatment that could be applied, especially in relation to the disinfection of surfaces in lambing pens of affected flocks. A 999/2001 EU regulation on controlling spongiform encephalopathies (European Parliament and Council 2001) did not specify a particular decontamination measure to be used when an outbreak of scrapie is diagnosed. There is only a brief recommendation in Annex VII concerning the control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE s).

Chapter B of the regulation explains the measures that must be applied if new caprine animals are to be introduced to a holding where a scrapie outbreak has previously been diagnosed. In that case, the statement indicates that caprine animals can be introduced ‘provided that a cleaning and disinfection of all animal housing on the premises has been carried out following destocking’.

Issues around cleaning and disinfection are common in prion prevention recommendations, but relevant authorities, veterinarians and farmers may have difficulties in finding the specific protocol which applies. The European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA ) published a detailed report about the efficacy of certain biocides, such as sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite, guanidine and even a formulation of copper or iron metal ions in combination with hydrogen peroxide, against prions (EFSA 2009). The report was based on scientific evidence (Fichet and others 2004, Lemmer and others 2004, Gao and others 2006, Solassol and others 2006) but unfortunately the decontamination measures were not assessed under outbreak conditions.

The EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards recently published its conclusions on the scrapie situation in the EU after 10 years of monitoring and control of the disease in sheep and goats (EFSA 2014), and one of the most interesting findings was the Icelandic experience regarding the effect of disinfection in scrapie control. The Icelandic plan consisted of: culling scrapie-affected sheep or the whole flock in newly diagnosed outbreaks; deep cleaning and disinfection of stables, sheds, barns and equipment with high pressure washing followed by cleaning with 500 parts per million of hypochlorite; drying and treatment with 300 ppm of iodophor; and restocking was not permitted for at least two years. Even when all of these measures were implemented, scrapie recurred on several farms, indicating that the infectious agent survived for years in the environment, even as many as 16 years after restocking (Georgsson and others 2006).

In the rest of the countries considered in the EFSA (2014) report, recommendations for disinfection measures were not specifically defined at the government level. In the report, the only recommendation that is made for sheep is repopulation with sheep with scrapie-resistant genotypes. This reduces the risk of scrapie recurrence but it is difficult to know its effect on the infection.

Until the EFSA was established (in May 2003), scientific opinions about TSE s were provided by the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of the EC, whose advice regarding inactivation procedures focused on treating animal waste at high temperatures (150°C for three hours) and high pressure alkaline hydrolysis (SSC 2003). At the same time, the TSE Risk Management Subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) in the UK published guidance on safe working and the prevention of TSE infection. Annex C of the ACDP report established that sodium hypochlorite was considered to be effective, but only if 20,000 ppm of available chlorine was present for at least one hour, which has practical limitations such as the release of chlorine gas, corrosion, incompatibility with formaldehyde, alcohols and acids, rapid inactivation of its active chemicals and the stability of dilutions (ACDP 2009).

In an international context, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) does not recommend a specific disinfection protocol for prion agents in its Terrestrial Code or Manual. Chapter 4.13 of the Terrestrial Code, General recommendations on disinfection and disinsection (OIE 2014), focuses on foot-and-mouth disease virus, mycobacteria and Bacillus anthracis, but not on prion disinfection. Nevertheless, the last update published by the OIE on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (OIE 2012) indicates that few effective decontamination techniques are available to inactivate the agent on surfaces, and recommends the removal of all organic material and the use of sodium hydroxide, or a sodium hypochlorite solution containing 2 per cent available chlorine, for more than one hour at 20ºC.

The World Health Organization outlines guidelines for the control of TSE s, and also emphasises the importance of mechanically cleaning surfaces before disinfection with sodium hydroxide or sodium hypochlorite for one hour (WHO 1999).

Finally, the relevant agencies in both Canada and the USA suggest that the best treatments for surfaces potentially contaminated with prions are sodium hydroxide or sodium hypochlorite at 20,000 ppm. This is a 2 per cent solution, while most commercial household bleaches contain 5.25 per cent sodium hypochlorite. It is therefore recommended to dilute one part 5.25 per cent bleach with 1.5 parts water (CDC 2009, Canadian Food Inspection Agency 2013).

So what should we do about disinfection against prions? First, it is suggested that a single protocol be created by international authorities to homogenise inactivation procedures and enable their application in all scrapie-affected countries. Sodium hypochlorite with 20,000 ppm of available chlorine seems to be the procedure used in most countries, as noted in a paper summarised on p 99 of this issue of Veterinary Record (Hawkins and others 2015). But are we totally sure of its effectiveness as a preventive measure in a scrapie outbreak? Would an in-depth study of the recurrence of scrapie disease be needed?

What we can conclude is that, if we want to fight prion diseases, and specifically classical scrapie, we must focus on the accuracy of diagnosis, monitoring and surveillance; appropriate animal identification and control of movements; and, in the end, have homogeneous and suitable protocols to decontaminate and disinfect lambing barns, sheds and equipment available to veterinarians and farmers. Finally, further investigations into the resistance of prion proteins in the diversity of environmental surfaces are required.

References

snip...

98 | Veterinary Record | January 24, 2015

http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/176/4/97.extract

Persistence of ovine scrapie infectivity in a farm environment following cleaning and decontamination

Steve A. C. Hawkins, MIBiol, Pathology Department1, Hugh A. Simmons, BVSc MRCVS, MBA, MA Animal Services Unit1, Kevin C. Gough, BSc, PhD2 and Ben C. Maddison, BSc, PhD3 + Author Affiliations

1Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK 2School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK 3ADAS UK, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK E-mail for correspondence: ben.maddison@adas.co.uk Abstract Scrapie of sheep/goats and chronic wasting disease of deer/elk are contagious prion diseases where environmental reservoirs are directly implicated in the transmission of disease. In this study, the effectiveness of recommended scrapie farm decontamination regimens was evaluated by a sheep bioassay using buildings naturally contaminated with scrapie. Pens within a farm building were treated with either 20,000 parts per million free chorine solution for one hour or were treated with the same but were followed by painting and full re-galvanisation or replacement of metalwork within the pen. Scrapie susceptible lambs of the PRNP genotype VRQ/VRQ were reared within these pens and their scrapie status was monitored by recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. All animals became infected over an 18-month period, even in the pen that had been subject to the most stringent decontamination process. These data suggest that recommended current guidelines for the decontamination of farm buildings following outbreaks of scrapie do little to reduce the titre of infectious scrapie material and that environmental recontamination could also be an issue associated with these premises.

SNIP...

Discussion

Thorough pressure washing of a pen had no effect on the amount of bioavailable scrapie infectivity (pen B). The routine removal of prions from surfaces within a laboratory setting is treatment for a minimum of one hour with 20,000 ppm free chlorine, a method originally based on the use of brain macerates from infected rodents to evaluate the effectiveness of decontamination (Kimberlin and others 1983). Further studies have also investigated the effectiveness of hypochlorite disinfection of metal surfaces to simulate the decontamination of surgical devices within a hospital setting. Such treatments with hypochlorite solution were able to reduce infectivity by 5.5 logs to lower than the sensitivity of the bioassay used (Lemmer and others 2004). Analogous treatment of the pen surfaces did not effectively remove the levels of scrapie infectivity over that of the control pens, indicating that this method of decontamination is not effective within a farm setting. This may be due to the high level of biological matrix that is present upon surfaces within the farm environment, which may reduce the amount of free chlorine available to inactivate any infectious prion. Remarkably 1/5 sheep introduced into pen D had also became scrapie positive within nine months, with all animals in this pen being RAMALT positive by 18 months of age. Pen D was no further away from the control pen (pen A) than any of the other pens within this barn. Localised hot spots of infectivity may be present within scrapie-contaminated environments, but it is unlikely that pen D area had an amount of scrapie contamination that was significantly different than the other areas within this building. Similarly, there were no differences in how the biosecurity of pen D was maintained, or how this pen was ventilated compared with the other pens. This observation, perhaps, indicates the slower kinetics of disease uptake within this pen and is consistent with a more thorough prion removal and recontamination. These observations may also account for the presence of inadvertent scrapie cases within other studies, where despite stringent biosecurity, control animals have become scrapie positive during challenge studies using barns that also housed scrapie-affected animals (Ryder and others 2009). The bioassay data indicate that the exposure of the sheep to a farm environment after decontamination efforts thought to be effective in removing scrapie is sufficient for the animals to become infected with scrapie. The main exposure routes within this scenario are likely to be via the oral route, during feeding and drinking, and respiratory and conjunctival routes. It has been demonstrated that scrapie infectivity can be efficiently transmitted via the nasal route in sheep (Hamir and others 2008), as is the case for CWD in both murine models and in white-tailed deer (Denkers and others 2010, 2013). Recently, it has also been demonstrated that CWD prions presented as dust when bound to the soil mineral montmorillonite can be infectious via the nasal route (Nichols and others 2013). When considering pens C and D, the actual source of the infectious agent in the pens is not known, it is possible that biologically relevant levels of prion survive on surfaces during the decontamination regimen (pen C). With the use of galvanising and painting (pen D) covering and sealing the surface of the pen, it is possible that scrapie material recontaminated the pens by the movement of infectious prions contained within dusts originating from other parts of the barn that were not decontaminated or from other areas of the farm.

Given that scrapie prions are widespread on the surfaces of affected farms (Maddison and others 2010a), irrespective of the source of the infectious prions in the pens, this study clearly highlights the difficulties that are faced with the effective removal of environmentally associated scrapie infectivity. This is likely to be paralleled in CWD which shows strong similarities to scrapie in terms of both the dissemination of prions into the environment and the facile mode of disease transmission. These data further contribute to the understanding that prion diseases can be highly transmissible between susceptible individuals not just by direct contact but through highly stable environmental reservoirs that are refractory to decontamination.

The presence of these environmentally associated prions in farm buildings make the control of these diseases a considerable challenge, especially in animal species such as goats where there is lack of genetic resistance to scrapie and, therefore, no scope to re-stock farms with animals that are resistant to scrapie.

Scrapie Sheep Goats Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) Accepted October 12, 2014. Published Online First 31 October 2014

http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/early/2014/10/31/vr.102743.abstract

PPo3-22:

Detection of Environmentally Associated PrPSc on a Farm with Endemic Scrapie

Ben C. Maddison,1 Claire A. Baker,1 Helen C. Rees,1 Linda A. Terry,2 Leigh Thorne,2 Susan J. Belworthy2 and Kevin C. Gough3 1ADAS-UK LTD; Department of Biology; University of Leicester; Leicester, UK; 2Veterinary Laboratories Agency; Surry, KT UK; 3Department of Veterinary Medicine and Science; University of Nottingham; Sutton Bonington, Loughborough UK

Key words: scrapie, evironmental persistence, sPMCA

Ovine scrapie shows considerable horizontal transmission, yet the routes of transmission and specifically the role of fomites in transmission remain poorly defined. Here we present biochemical data demonstrating that on a scrapie-affected sheep farm, scrapie prion contamination is widespread. It was anticipated at the outset that if prions contaminate the environment that they would be there at extremely low levels, as such the most sensitive method available for the detection of PrPSc, serial Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (sPMCA), was used in this study. We investigated the distribution of environmental scrapie prions by applying ovine sPMCA to samples taken from a range of surfaces that were accessible to animals and could be collected by use of a wetted foam swab. Prion was amplified by sPMCA from a number of these environmental swab samples including those taken from metal, plastic and wooden surfaces, both in the indoor and outdoor environment. At the time of sampling there had been no sheep contact with these areas for at least 20 days prior to sampling indicating that prions persist for at least this duration in the environment. These data implicate inanimate objects as environmental reservoirs of prion infectivity which are likely to contribute to disease transmission.

http://www.prion2010.org/bilder/prion_2010_program_latest_w_posters_4_.pdf?139&PHPSESSID=a30a38202cfec579000b77af81be3099

*** 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.

"This is the first intensive sampling for CWD in fawns anywhere," said Dr. Julie Langenberg, Department of Natural Resources wildlife veterinarian, "and we are trying to learn as much as we can from these data".

http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/news.detail/ID/a4b4e5e8749d729af242e253ac742084

Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Texas

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, September 9, 2013 Shreveport Man Sentenced For Illegally Transporting Deer In East Texas Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs

TYLER, Texas – A 57-year-old Shreveport, LA, man has been sentenced to pay over $14,000.00 in restitution and serve 48 hours of community service as conditions of a two year probated sentence for federal wildlife violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Stephen Anderson Sipes Jr. pleaded guilty on June 10, 2013, to negligent transportation of wildlife and was sentenced today by U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love.

According to information presented in court, Sipes had an ownership interest in a high-fence ranch in Sanderson, Texas. On Jan. 14, 2010, Sipes transported and possessed 14 live, illegally imported whitetail deer valued at over $350.00 each from Carthage, Missouri to the ranch in Sanderson, which is prohibited by Texas law. The fair market value of the illegally imported whitetail deer was approximately $5,650.00.

Sipes must pay $14,016.49 in restitution to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation to compensate the agency for costs incurred in protecting the native deer from the threat of disease carried by the Missouri whitetails.

This case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas Parks and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

USAO - Texas, Eastern District

Updated March 12, 2015

http://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/shreveport-man-sentenced-illegally-transporting-deer-east-texas

*** A Louisiana man was ordered to pay more than $14,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to negligent transportation of wildlife in connection with importing live white-tailed deer into the Trans-Pecos region. ***

Louisiana man sentenced for illegally transporting deer in Texas

Blog September 10, 2013 Will Leschper 0

 Blog194

Louisiana man sentenced for illegally transporting deer in Texas

A Louisiana man was ordered to pay more than $14,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to negligent transportation of wildlife in connection with importing live white-tailed deer into the Trans-Pecos region.

Stephen Anderson Sipes Jr., 57, pleaded guilty June 10. Sipes had an ownership interest in a high-fence ranch in Sanderson, according to court documents. On Jan. 14, 2010, Sipes transported and possessed 14 live illegally imported whitetails valued at more than $350 each from Carthage, Mo., to the ranch in Sanderson, which is prohibited by Texas law.

The market value of the illegally imported deer was approximately $5,650, according to court documents.

Sipes must pay the restitution to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation to compensate the agency for costs incurred in protecting native deer from the risk of disease potentially carried by the Missouri whitetails.

The biggest threat that imported deer pose to native populations is the spread of chronic wasting disease, a fatal transmissible neurological disease in the family of infectious diseases that include bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease.”

CWD was discovered in Texas for the first time last year when mule deer shot near the New Mexico border returned positive results.

TPWD, in conjunction with the Texas Animal Health Commission and other state and national entities, has developed a surveillance plan and protocols aimed at discovering and containing any transmission among the state’s deer herds, which remain a multi-billion dollar cash cow. TPWD estimates more than 600,000 hunters pursued deer during last year’s seasons, and deer hunting’s direct economic impact is more than $2 billion annually in Texas.

The TAHC has authority for reporting and tracking diseases in alternative livestock including elk, red deer and sika deer, and TPWD has authority over free-ranging white-tailed and mule deer. The agencies also share regulatory authority over captive deer held under the authority of breeder permits.

louisiana-man-sentenced-for-illegally-transporting-deer-in-texas

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 19, 2012 ILLINOIS GENETICIST SENTENCED FOR ACQUIRING SEMEN FROM ILLEGALLY IMPORTED DEER Illinois Man ordered to pay $30k for drawing semen from Deer Smuggled into East Texas

TYLER, Texas – A 55-year-old Braidwood, Illinois geneticist has been sentenced for acquiring semen from illegally imported deer in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Dr. Raymond Favero pleaded guilty on July 11, 2012 to the felony offense of acquiring wildlife in interstate commerce in violation of state law and federal laws and was sentenced to three years probation today by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis. Favero was also fined $6,000.00 and ordered to pay community restitution in the amount of $24,000.00 to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

According to information presented in court, on Feb. 1, 2007, Favero acquired approximately 184 straws of whitetail deer semen valued at approximately $92,000.00 which he drew from a buck which he knew had been transported illegally from an out-of-state source. Then again, on Jan. 28, 2008, Favero acquired another 110 straws of whitetail deer semen valued at approximately $55,000.00 which he drew from another buck which he knew had been transported illegally from an out of state source. Favero knew that Texas law prohibits any importation of live whitetail deer or live mule deer due to the threat of diseases transmittable by deer such as Chronic Wasting Disease and bovine tuberculosis. Favero earned a P.H.D. in Animal Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992.

This case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

###

http://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/txe/News/2012/edtx-favero-121912.html

*** Stephen Anderson Sipes Jr., 57, pleaded guilty June 10. Sipes had an ownership interest in a high-fence ranch in Sanderson, according to court documents. ***

*** On Jan. 14, 2010, Sipes transported and possessed 14 live illegally imported whitetails valued at more than $350 each from Carthage, Mo., to the ranch in Sanderson, which is prohibited by Texas law. ***

Saturday, July 18, 2015

CHARLES "SAM" JAMES, Columbia, Missouri, was charged in a one-count federal indictment for violations of the Lacey Act involved the sale of white-tailed deer transported in violation of Missouri and Florida law

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/charles-sam-james-columbia-missouri-was.html

Monday, January 26, 2015

Missouri MDC reports two new cases of CWD found in Adair and Macon counties

http://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/mdc-reports-two-new-cases-cwd-found-adair-and-macon-counties

Friday, September 20, 2013

Missouri State records show gaps in oversight of captive deer farms, ranches

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/missouri-state-records-show-gaps-in.html

Rare report of deer disease in Texas causes stir

Houston Chronicle

Rare report of deer disease in Texas causes stir, especially since it’s the 8 case of CWD documented in Texas, and the first case of CWD in Captive deer.

here is how I would have titled this article, and why.

Shannon Tompkins Finally Breaks Silence on Texas First Captive CWD Case and Starts Off Spreading False Information About Risk Factors. ...

Thursday, July 16, 2015

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/rare-report-of-deer-disease-in-texas.html

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Texas CWD Medina County Herd Investigation Update July 16, 2015

• 66 Texas sites, 2 Mexico sites

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/texas-cwd-medina-county-herd.html

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Texas Certified Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Sample Collector, like the Wolf Guarding the Henhouse

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/texas-certified-chronic-wasting-disease.html

Thursday, July 23, 2015

*** Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) 101 Drs. Walter Cook & Donald S. Davis

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-101-drs.html

Sunday, July 26, 2015

*** TEXAS IN MELT DOWN MODE OVER CAPTIVE CWD AND THEY ARE PUTTING LIPSTICK ON THAT PIG AND TAKING HER TO THE DANCE LIKE MAD COW DISEASE ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/texas-in-melt-down-mode-over-captive.html

Tuesday, July 28, 2015 TEXAS

Kills 35 Deer at Medina County Ranch (Texas Captive CWD)

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/texas-kills-35-deer-at-medina-county.html

Saturday, August 01, 2015

*** Texas CWD Medina Captive Two more deer test positive for chronic wasting disease CWD TSE Prion ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/texas-cwd-medina-captive-two-more-deer.html

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Confirmed Texas Trans Pecos March 18, 2015

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/03/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-confirmed.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Cases Confirmed In New Mexico 2013 and 2014 UPDATE 2015

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/03/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-cases.html

Thursday, May 02, 2013

*** Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Texas Important Update on OBEX ONLY TEXTING

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/05/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-texas.html

Monday, February 11, 2013

TEXAS CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD Four New Positives Found in Trans Pecos

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/02/texas-chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-four.html

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in Far West Texas

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/07/chronic-wasting-disease-detected-in-far.html

Monday, March 26, 2012

Texas Prepares for Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Possibility in Far West Texas

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/texas-prepares-for-chronic-wasting.html

***for anyone interested, here is some history of CWD along the Texas, New Mexico border, and my attempt to keep up with it...terry

snip...

see history CWD Texas, New Mexico Border ;

Monday, March 26, 2012

3 CASES OF CWD FOUND NEW MEXICO MULE DEER SEVERAL MILES FROM TEXAS BORDER

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/3-cases-of-cwd-found-new-mexico-mule.html

Sunday, October 04, 2009

CWD NEW MEXICO SPREADING SOUTH TO TEXAS 2009 2009 Summary of Chronic Wasting Disease in New Mexico New Mexico Department of Game and Fish

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/10/cwd-new-mexico-spreading-south-to-texas.html

Friday, May 22, 2015

*** Chronic Wasting Disease and Program Updates - 2014 NEUSAHA Annual Meeting 12-14 May 2014

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/05/chronic-wasting-disease-and-program.html

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

*** DRAFT Virginia Deer Management Plan 2015-2024 (*** bans urine scents do to CWD 2015) ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/draft-virginia-deer-management-plan.html http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/

why does taxpayer pay for stupid $$$

cwd indemnity

http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/a898b4

O.05: Transmission of prions to primates after extended silent incubation periods: Implications for BSE and scrapie risk assessment in human populations

Emmanuel Comoy, Jacqueline Mikol, Val erie Durand, Sophie Luccantoni, Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra, Capucine Dehen, and Jean-Philippe Deslys Atomic Energy Commission; Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

Prion diseases (PD) are the unique neurodegenerative proteinopathies reputed to be transmissible under field conditions since decades. The transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to humans evidenced that an animal PD might be zoonotic under appropriate conditions. Contrarily, in the absence of obvious (epidemiological or experimental) elements supporting a transmission or genetic predispositions, PD, like the other proteinopathies, are reputed to occur spontaneously (atpical animal prion strains, sporadic CJD summing 80% of human prion cases). Non-human primate models provided the first evidences supporting the transmissibiity of human prion strains and the zoonotic potential of BSE. Among them, cynomolgus macaques brought major information for BSE risk assessment for human health (Chen, 2014), according to their phylogenetic proximity to humans and extended lifetime. We used this model to assess the zoonotic potential of other animal PD from bovine, ovine and cervid origins even after very long silent incubation periods.

***We recently observed the direct transmission of a natural classical scrapie isolate to macaque after a 10-year silent incubation period, with features similar to some reported for human cases of sporadic CJD, albeit requiring fourfold longe incubation than BSE.

***Scrapie, as recently evoked in humanized mice (Cassard, 2014), is the third potentially zoonotic PD (with BSE and L-type BSE),

***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases. We will present an updated panorama of our different transmission studies and discuss the implications of such extended incubation periods on risk assessment of animal PD for human health.

===============

***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases...TSS

===============

https://prion2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/programguide1.pdf

Saturday, May 30, 2015

PRION 2015 ORAL AND POSTER CONGRESSIONAL ABSTRACTS

https://prion2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/prion2015abstracts.pdf

have you been THUNDERSTRUCK

Hillbilly THUNDERSTRUCK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY CWD TSE PRION ERADICATION

Military