News Releases Return... 
 
CWD-positive white-tailed deer found on Iowa County farm January 29, 2016 
 
CWD-positive white-tailed deer found on Iowa County farm
 
Contact: Raechelle Belli, 608-224-5005 or Bill Cosh, Communications 
Director, 608-224-5020
 
MADISON – A white-tailed deer from a deer farm in Iowa County has tested 
positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), Wisconsin State Veterinarian Dr. 
Paul McGraw announced today. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in 
Ames, Iowa, confirmed the test results. 
 
The 2-year-old buck, which was born on the farm and killed after sustaining 
an injury, was one of only 15 deer reported to be on the 1 acre farm, according 
to the farm’s June 2015 registration. The owner keeps a small number of deer for 
public exhibition only and does not move the deer anywhere except to slaughter. 
All of the owner’s deer that have died or been sent to slaughter since 2002 have 
been tested for CWD.
 
Samples were taken from the buck on January 9 in accordance with Wisconsin 
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP’s) rules, 
which require testing of farm-raised deer and elk when they die or are killed. 
 
The farm has been quarantined since 2008 when wild deer within a five mile 
radius were diagnosed with CWD. The DATCP Animal Health Division’s investigation 
will also examine the animal’s history and trace movements of deer onto the 
property to determine whether any other deer farms may have exposure to 
CWD.
 
### 
 
http://datcp.wi.gov/news/?ID=1411 
 
Tuesday, January 19, 2016 
 
Wisconsin Second CWD-positive deer found in Oneida County 5-year-old buck 
shot at Three Lakes Trophy Ranch LLC agency received the CWD-positive report on 
the animal Dec. 29
 
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2016/01/wisconsin-second-cwd-positive-deer.html
 
As of 2015 there were 421 registered deer farms in Wisconsin. White-tailed 
deer farming is regulated and licensed by the Wisconsin Department of 
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) [exit DNR]. However the 
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is responsible for regulating white-tailed 
deer farm fencing. Before you can register your farm with DATCP you must have 
your fence inspected and receive a deer farm fence certificate from the DNR. 
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/regulations.html
 
State pays farmer $298,000 for infected deer herd 
 
By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel 
 
Jan. 16, 2016 8:05 p.m.
 
The State of Wisconsin paid nearly $300,000 to the Eau Claire County farmer 
whose deer herd was depopulated after it was found to be infected with chronic 
wasting disease.
 
Rick Vojtik, owner of Fairchild Whitetails in Fairchild, received an 
indemnity payment of $298,770 for 228 white-tailed deer killed on his farm, 
according to officials with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer 
Protection.
 
The money was taken from the agency's general program revenue funded by 
Wisconsin taxpayers.
 
The state has a maximum payment of $1,500 per animal in such cases; Vojtik 
received $1,310 each.
 
The adult deer killed at Fairchild Whitetails were tested for disease. 
Including those tested before depopulation, 33 deer at the facility were 
CWD-positive, according to the DATCP.
 
The CWD-positive deer on Vojtik's farm were the first and only detected to 
date in Eau Claire County and triggered a deer baiting and feeding ban in Eau 
Claire, Clark and Jackson counties.
 
More than a dozen deer escaped the facility last year but all were captured 
or killed, according to Rick Rosen, regional warden supervisor for the 
Department of Natural Resources.
 
In Wisconsin, the DATCP has authority over deer and elk farms while the DNR 
has authority over the fences at such facilities and deer and elk outside 
them.
 
Under an agreement with state officials, Vojtik will maintain the farm's 
fences for five years and not put deer or other cervids in the area. Agents with 
the DATCP will disinfect the property, said Paul McGraw, DATCP 
veterinarian.
 
The 228 deer had been held in an enclosure of about 10 acres.
 
Chronic wasting disease has been found at 13 captive cervid facilities in 
Wisconsin, according to DATCP records.
 
Second CWD finding in Oneida County: A second CWD-positive deer has been 
reported at an Oneida County shooting preserve, according to the DATCP.
 
The 5-year-old buck was shot at Three Lakes Trophy Ranch LLC in Three 
Lakes. The agency received the CWD-positive report on the animal Dec. 29.
 
A 3-year-old buck at the facility also tested positive for the disease in 
November, initiating a baiting and feeding ban in Oneida, Forest and Vilas 
counties.
 
Officials with the DATCP said Friday there was no plan to depopulate the 
facility. According to records from December, Three Lakes Trophy Ranch had about 
425 deer on 570 acres. 
 
The captive animals are the only deer to test positive for CWD in that 
portion of the Northwoods, including the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 
 
Last year, Michigan officials unveiled a campaign called "Keep the U.P. CWD 
Free!" It is illegal to bring whole deer carcasses from Wisconsin into 
Michigan.
 
Chronic wasting disease was identified in Colorado in 1967. The disease, 
among a family of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies including Mad Cow 
Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, is fatal to deer, elk and moose. The disease was 
first detected in Wisconsin in 2002 near Mount Horeb. As of this month, 41 of 
the state's 72 counties are considered "CWD-affected" by the DNR.
 
Meat from a CWD-positive animal should not be eaten, according to health 
officials. 
 
DNR hiring for creel survey: The DNR is accepting applications for three 
fisheries technicians to conduct creel surveys on Lake Michigan. 
 
The limited-term employee positions will run from about March 7 to Oct. 31; 
the jobs will be based in Mishicot, Plymouth and Sturtevant.
 
According to the job description, candidates must be able to accurately 
identify common Lake Michigan fish; have good oral and written communication 
skills; be able to work independently with limited supervision; be able to 
approach anglers on piers and breakwaters, rocky shorelines, open sand, cobble 
beaches and along streams and rivers over uneven terrain; and be willing to work 
in inclement weather.
 
The jobs will pay $11.50 to $12.50 per hour depending on experience and 
training. Work is required on weekends and holidays.
 
For application materials and more information, visit 
dnr.wi.gov/employment. The application deadline is Feb. 2.
 
Interviews are planned the week of Feb. 8 at the DNR's Plymouth Service 
Center.
 
© 2016, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.
 
About Paul A. Smith Paul A. Smith covers outdoors and conservation 
issues.
 
@mjsps psmith@journalsentinel.com 414-224-2313 
 
 
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: 
 
 
$298,770 + $465,000 
 
Friday, December 04, 2015 
 
Wisconsin CWD-positive white-tailed deer found on Oneida County hunting 
preserve December 3, 2015
 
 
Thursday, November 19, 2015 
 
Wisconsin Eau Claire Co. deer herd two day round of depopulation CWD 
testing shows 23 positive 
 
 
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 
 
Wisconsin Chronic wasting disease confirmed in Crawford County buck 
harvested on private land
 
 
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 
 
Wisconsin tracks 81 deer from game farm with CWD buck to seven other states 
 
 
Tuesday, December 17, 2013 
 
Wisconsin Second CWD positive deer found in Grant County 
 
 
Monday, December 02, 2013 
 
WISCONSIN CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD DISCOVERED MARATHON COUNTY HUNTING 
PRESERVE 
 
 
Sunday, November 03, 2013 
 
Wisconsin Second CWD deer found in Portage County 
 
 
Wisconsin : 436 Deer Have Escaped From Farms to Wild 
 
Date: March 18, 2003 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel snip... 
 
Sunday, November 03, 2013 
 
Wisconsin Second CWD deer found in Portage County 
 
Second CWD deer found in Portage County 
 
News Release 
 
Published: November 1, 2013 by the Northwest Region Contact(s): Kris 
Johansen, DNR area wildlife supervisor, 715-284-1430; Ed Culhane, 
 
DNR communications, 715-781-1683 WISCONSIN RAPIDS – A deer harvested by a 
bow hunter in southeast Portage County has tested positive for chronic wasting 
disease, the state Department of Natural Resources reports. This is the second 
CWD-positive wild deer found in the county. Wildlife biologists in central 
Wisconsin now are asking bow hunters to assist with increased surveillance for 
the disease in four separate areas where positives have been confirmed outside 
the CWD management zone. 
 
CWD is contagious and fatal for deer, elk and moose. “Last fall CWD was 
discovered for the first time in three wild, white-tailed deer in Adams, Juneau 
and Portage counties” said DNR area wildlife supervisor Kris Johansen. “Now we 
have a second positive in a different area of Portage County. To better define 
the geographic extent of CWD in central Wisconsin, we are focusing additional 
surveillance around each of these four locations.” 
 
The latest CWD positive deer was harvested Oct. 6 just northwest of Almond 
in Portage County. 
 
To view where the surveillance focus areas are located, hunters can go to 
the DNR website and enter “CWD registration” in the key word search, then click 
on “CWD registration and sampling.” On this page – 
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/registersample.html 
– detailed maps show the precise location of these surveillance circles for the 
first three positives, the ones in Adams and Juneau counties and the first find 
in Portage County, located in the northwest corner of the county. 
 
There is also a map showing the two Portage County locations. A new map, 
showing the precise surveillance area for the fourth positive, in southeast 
Portage County, will be added to the web page as soon as it is prepared. This 
page also links to a list of cooperating taxidermists and meat processors where 
samples can be collected. 
 
The DNR is asking hunters to work with these cooperators to have head and 
lymph node samples from adult deer – harvested within the four focus areas – 
removed for testing. To have the sample removed, the hunter can bring the whole 
deer to one of the listed cooperators or just remove the head with at least 
three inches of neck attached and bring that in for sampling. 
 
“Please call ahead to set up an appointment,” Johansen said. “These are 
private business operators who are helping us out, and we want to respect their 
time and their schedules.” This list will be updated online as new cooperators 
join the surveillance effort: 
 
• Wisconsin River Meats, N5340 County HH, Mauston 608-847-7413 
 
• A&B Butchering, 6971 Hwy 34, Rudolph 715-435-3893 
 
• Strickly Wild Processing, 140 Buffalo St, Wisconsin Rapids 715-421-0587 
 
• Hartnell's Wild Game Processing, 1925 Cypress Ave., Arkdale 608-339-7288 
 
• Trevor Athens Taxidermy, 982 15th Ave., Arkdale 608-547-6117 
 
• Tall Tines Taxidermy, N2621 Cassidy Road, Mauston 608-547-0818 
 
• Todd's Wildlife Taxidermy, N2148 State 58, Mauston 608-847-7693 
 
• Vollmer Taxidermy, 3631 Plover Road, Plover 715-345-1934 
 
• Field and Stream Taxidermy, 217 S. Front St., Coloma 608-547-1565 
 
• DNR Service Center, 473 Griffith Ave., Wisconsin Rapids 715-421-7813 
 
• Mead Wildlife Area, S2148 County S, Milladore 715-457-6771 
 
• Adams Ranger Station, 532 N. Adams St., Adams 608-339-4819 
 
• Almond Market, 111 Main St., Almond 715-366-2002 
 
Hunters may also have deer from any of the four focus areas tested for CWD 
by contacting one of these DNR offices: 
 
• Mead Wildlife Area headquarters, S2148 County S, Milladore – 715-457-6771 
 
• WI Rapids Service Center, 473 Griffith Avenue, Wisconsin Rapids – 
715-421-7813 
 
• Adams-Friendship Ranger Station, 532 N. Main Street, Adams – 608-339-4819 
 
On the weekends or during warm periods, hunters should remove the deer head 
with at least three inches of neck attached, freeze the head and then contact 
the DNR to arrange a drop off. DNR staff will also collect samples from 
hunter-harvested deer on the opening weekend of the gun deer season. Collection 
stations and hours will be published prior to the gun deer season. The CWD tests 
are free to hunters. Each person who submits a head for testing will receive lab 
results within three or four weeks. 
http://dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=2996 
 
 
Friday, February 03, 2012 
 
*** Wisconsin Farm-Raised Deer Farms and CWD there from 2012 report 
Singeltary et al 
 
 
THE YEAR 2000 
 
Stop the madness: CWD threatens Wisconsin's elk, deer and, ultimately, 
people. 
 
15 July 00 
 
The Isthmus magazine By BRIAN McCOMBIE 
 
Imagine a disease worse than AIDS rippling through Wisconsin's deer herd. 
One that's always fatal, cannot be tested for in live animals, and has the 
chance of spreading to anyone who eats the infected venison. Sound like the 
premise for Michael Crichton's next apocalyptic thriller? 
 
Unfortunately, such a disease already exists in epidemic levels in the 
wilds of Colorado and Wyoming. It's infected some game farms, too, and Wisconsin 
game farmers have imported more than 350 elk with the potential for this 
disease, including elk from farms known to be infected. 
 
"If most people knew what kind of risk this disease poses to free-ranging 
deer in the state, they'd be very concerned," says Dr. Sarah Hurley, Lands 
Division administrator for the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR is now 
testing free-ranging deer around these game farms for the disease: "We're 
focusing our energies on those areas where we think there's the greatest 
possibility of transmission." 
 
The malady the DNR's looking for is chronic wasting disease (CWD)--better 
known, to the extent it is known at all, as mad elk disease. It's a form of the 
mad cow disease that devastated Britain's cattle industry in the 1980s, scared 
the bejesus out of the populace, and is believed to have killed at least 70 
people to date. An elk or deer with CWD can be listless, may walk in circles, 
will lose weight and interact progressively less with fellow animals. 
 
The corresponding human affliction is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 
(pronounced Croytz-feld Yawkob) or CJD. People with CJD experience symptoms 
similar to Alzheimer's, including memory loss and depression, followed by 
rapidly progressive dementia and death, usually within one year. While CJD is 
rare (literally one in a million odds of getting it), over the last few years at 
least three deer hunters have died of it. There is no proof either way whether 
they contracted the disease from CWD-infected venison, but new research says it 
is possible. 
 
All three varieties--mad cow, mad elk and CJD--belong to a family of 
diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. These diseases alter 
the conformation of proteins in the brain called prions; after-death brain 
samples usually show a series of microscopic holes in and around brain cells. 
 
No one is exactly sure how mad elk disease spreads. At first, transmittal 
through blood seemed likely, as from mother to fawn. But CWD has moved between 
adult animals at game farms, leading scientists to conclude that it can be 
spread through saliva or simple contact. Also, the rates of transmission are 
higher in areas where animals have the most opportunities for contact. 
Wisconsin's concentrated population of 1.7 million deer interact freely with 
each other, and scientific modeling suggests CWD could tear through our deer 
herd devastatingly fast. Despite the danger, Wisconsin and other states are 
relying on only sporadic testing and a system of voluntary compliance. It's a 
system that some say has more holes in it than a CWD-infected brain. 
 
At present, Wisconsin game farm owners, even those harboring elk and deer 
brought in from farms with known cases of CWD, do not have to call a 
veterinarian if a deer or elk suddenly dies or acts strange. They're also not 
required to inform the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) or the 
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) if animals 
escape into the wild. 
 
"The lax attitude is pretty shocking," says John Stauber, a Madison 
activist and co-author of Mad Cow U.S.A. To protect people and deer, Stauber 
argues for an immediate importation ban for game farms, plus programs of testing 
and surveillance. He suggests both DATCP and DNR aren't taking such measures 
because, as the regulators in charge, they don't want to find the CWD he thinks 
is likely already in state. "It's in their bureaucratic interest to not 
[actively] look for CWD in the game farms," says Stauber. "Because if they find 
it, who's to blame?" 
 
In the wild and especially out west, chronic wasting disease is spreading 
fast. Northeastern Colorado documented its first case in 1981. By the mid-1990s, 
samplings of mule deer brains showed 3% to 4% testing positive for CWD. Within a 
few years, the rate was 8%, and now Larimer County, the center of the endemic 
area, has a 15% rate of infection among mule deer. It's also being found in deer 
and elk in Wyoming. 
 
"Fifteen percent of a wild population of animals with this disease is 
staggering," says Dr. Thomas Pringle, who tracks CWD-type diseases for the 
Sperling Biomedical Foundation in Eugene, Ore. "It's basically unheard of. This 
appears to be an unusually virulent strain. with highly efficient horizontal 
transmission mechanisms." 
 
CWD could eventually spread to Wisconsin on its own, animal to animal. But 
that would take decades. Game farms, though, provide a mechanism to cut through 
all that time and distance and drop CWD smack in the middle of the state. 
 
An open-records search by Isthmus reveals that the first shipment of farm 
elk from areas with CWD in the wild occurred in 1992, with 66 Colorado elk going 
to a game farm in Plymouth. In April 1998, DATCP was informed that a Bloomer 
game farm had purchased one elk from a Nebraska farm later found to be 
CWD-infected. This prompted a Sept. 15, 1998, memo from Steven Miller, head of 
the DNR's Lands Division, to Secretary George Meyer, with copies to DATCP chief 
Ben Brancel and Gov. Tommy Thompson. In it, Miller recommends that Wisconsin 
follow the lead of Montana (which found CWD on two game farms) and place "a 
moratorium on the importation of all game farm animals.... At present it appears 
the only way to help assure the disease does not spread into Wisconsin." 
 
But the moratorium was never put in place, so it's possible that even more 
elk potentially carrying CWD are now in state. 
 
Instead of a moratorium, Wisconsin has opted for testing. It is among 12 
states and two Canadian provinces that currently test deer for CWD. Last year, 
the Wisconsin DNR began testing road- and hunter-killed deer in 1999 within a 
five-mile radius of game farms that have brought in elk from CWD-infected areas. 
Test areas include all or part of Fond du Lac, Dodge, Jefferson, Sheboygan and 
Washington counties. All of the approximately 250 brains examined in 1999 came 
back negative; this year, 500 to 600 deer will be tested. 
 
Meanwhile, DATCP is asking owners of game farms that have animals from 
herds known to have cases of CWD infection to voluntarily enter a surveillance 
program. The agency's top veterinarian, Dr. Clarence Siroky, argues that 
voluntary compliance makes more sense than a moratorium because, ban or no ban, 
game farm operators "are going to find a way to bring these animals into the 
state. We don't have police patrols and impregnable borders to keep anything in 
or out." 
 
With voluntary compliance, Siroky says, at least there are records of 
animals entering the state. So if CWD or other diseases are discovered, the 
animals can be traced back to their original herds and other farms they may have 
been at. "It's better to know where the animals are coming in from," he insists. 
 
Siroky may be right that an importation ban would result in some game farms 
smuggling in animals. But currently, game farmers can bring in any deer or elk, 
even those from known CWD-infected areas, so long as they can produce a health 
certificate showing the animal's been tested. The problem is that no test exists 
to find CWD in live animals. Animals can carry CWD for years and still look 
healthy, so some of the 370 elk shipped into Wisconsin between 1996 and 1999 
from CWD areas could have the disease. The odds are even higher for animals 
purchased from farms later found to have CWD. 
 
Wisconsin has approximately 100 deer or elk farms and they're big business. 
On the Internet, prices for elk calves start at $1,500, and breeding bulls go 
for up to $20,000. Some farms sell venison and the velvet that peels from new 
elk antlers (considered an aphrodisiac in Asia). Others offer "hunts" costing 
between $1,000 and $5,000 for trophy deer, to more than $10,000 for bull elk 
with massive antlers. 
 
Given these economics, it's reasonable to question why anyone with a 
suspicion of CWD in his or her herd would call in state regulators or a vet. A 
farm with a proven CWD case, confirms Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt, DATCP's director of 
Animal Disease Control, would be shut down indefinitely. 
 
And if a problem develops on a Wisconsin game farm, there's no guarantee 
that's where it will stay. Dr. Hurley says even fenced-in animals have easy 
nose-to-nose contact with wild and other farmed animals. Besides, as the DNR's 
chief of special operations Thomas Solin has documented, many game farms are not 
secure. Gates are sometimes left open. Fences rust and break, rot and topple, 
get crushed by fallen trees. Even if game farm animals don't escape, such 
breaches allow wild deer to get in, mingle with the farmed deer and elk, then 
leave. 
 
Unlike other diseases, there's no test for CWD in living animals because it 
doesn't create an immune system counter-response, detectable through blood 
analysis. You can't kill CWD and related diseases by cooking the meat. One test 
Stauber recounts in Mad Cow U.S.A. found that scrapie, a sheep form of CWD, 
stayed viable after a full hour at 680 degrees Fahrenheit. Most disinfectants 
don't kill these diseases, either, and they can exist in the soil for years. 
 
And while diseases like mad cow and mad elk do have some trouble jumping 
from species to species, it can happen. This May, Byron Caughey of the National 
Institutes of Health announced that he had converted human brain materials with 
mad-elk-contaminated brain matter at rates roughly equal to the transfer between 
mad cow and humans. 
 
Says Dr. Pringle, referring to Caughey's work, "CWD may not transmit that 
easily, but the rate isn't zero." Pringle notes that the test Caughey used has 
been a very reliable proxy in the past in determining transmission possibilities 
for other diseases, including mad cow. 
 
Once they jump the species barrier, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy 
diseases adapt to fit the new host and are then passed on rather easily within 
that species. Unfortunately, says Pringle, no one is trying to determine if CWD 
has jumped into people as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Making matters more 
difficult is the fact that the disease can incubate for decades before symptoms 
are seen. 
 
In states with CWD-infected deer, thousands of people have undoubtedly been 
exposed to CWD-infected venison. A February 1998 Denver Post article tells of 
one hunter who's venison tested positive for CWD. By the time he was notified, 
his meat had already been ground up and mixed with meat from hundreds of other 
deer for venison sausage. 
 
With AIDS, Pringle notes, there was a definite overreaction, with people 
initially afraid to even shake hands with people infected with the virus. 
Looking at the CWD situation in Colorado, he says there's been complete 
underreaction. "It's like, oh, what the hell. Nobody's died yet--so keep eating 
the venison!'" Pringle worries that if the disease is found in humans, it will 
be so only after years of spreading through the human community. 
 
Looking over documents obtained by Isthmus through its open-records 
request, Stauber says DATCP is behaving more like a lobbyist for the game farm 
industry than an agency bent on protecting Wisconsin's people from CWD. He 
points to DATCP's Cervidae Advisory Committee as a prime example. In a Nov. 11, 
1998, memo from Siroky to DATCP secretary Ben Brancel, Siroky notes that the 
committee is needed to "obtain information from the public concerning disease 
regulation" of farmed deer and elk, and "to help formulate action plans for 
importation requirements, prevention and control" of CWD. But of the 12 people 
Siroky nominates, one's a DNR warden, one's a DATCP employee, and the other 10 
are game farm owners. And two of these owners were among those DATCP knew had 
purchased elk from farms at high risk of having CWD. 
 
"There's no significant input from anyone else," says Stauber. "Farmers, 
deer hunters and consumers are all left out. Meanwhile, the government's failing 
to take all necessary precautions to alert the public to this potential health 
threat." 
 
 
game farms help spread cwd, simple fact. it’s been proven. game farms are 
not the only risk factor though, however, they are a big part of the problem, 
history shows this. 
 
the quarantine of cwd tse prion infected game farms must be extended to 16 
years now.
 
the CWD LOTTO ENTITLEMENT of captive game farms where the states pays game 
farms for CWD MUST BE STOPPED. if the cwd infected farm does not buy insurance 
for any and all loss from CWD for them and any party that does business with 
them, and or any loss to the state, and or any products there from, that’s to 
bad, they should never be allowed to be permitted. in fact, for any state that 
does allow game farming, urine mills, sperm mills, antler mills, velvet mills, 
big high fence ranch, little low fence farm, in my opinion, it’s that states 
responsibility to protect that state, thus, any states that allow these farms 
and business there from, it should be mandatory before any permit is allowed, 
that game farm must have enough personal insurance that would cover that farm, 
any farm that does business with them, and or any products there from, and the 
state, before such permit is issued. personally, I am sick and tired of all the 
big ag entitlement programs, and that’s all cwd indemnity is. in fact, the USDA 
CWD INDEMNITY PROGRAM, should read, THE USDA CWD ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM. 
 
we cannot, and must not, let the industry regulate itself, especially with 
the junk science they try to use. 
 
if they are not going to be science based, they must be banned. 
 
science has told us for 3 decade or longer, that these are the things that 
_might_ work, yet thanks to the industry, and government catering to industry, 
regulations there from have failed, because of catering to the industry, and the 
cwd tse prion agent has continued to spread during this time. a fine example is 
Texas. 
 
Sunday, January 17, 2016 
 
Texas 10,000 deer in Texas tested for deadly disease CWD TSE, but not 
tested much in the most logical place, the five-mile radius around the Medina 
County captive-deer facility where it was discovered 
 
 
Friday, January 15, 2016 
 
TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE CWD Ante-Mortem Testing Symposium Texas Disposal 
Systems Events Pavilion January 12, 2016 
 
 
Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF 
TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES 
 
***Title: Transmission of chronic wasting disease to sentinel reindeer 
(Rangifer tarandus tarandus) 
 
Authors 
 
item Moore, S - item Kunkle, Robert item Nicholson, Eric item Richt, 
Juergen item Hamir, Amirali item Waters, Wade item Greenlee, Justin 
 
Submitted to: American College of Veterinary Pathologists Meeting 
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: August 12, 2015 
Publication Date: N/A 
 
Technical Abstract: 
 
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a naturally-occurring, fatal 
neurodegenerative disease of North American cervids. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus 
tarandus) are susceptible to CWD following oral challenge, but CWD has not been 
reported in free-ranging caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) or farmed reindeer. 
Potential contact between CWD-affected cervids and Rangifer species that are 
free-ranging or co-housed on farms presents a potential risk of CWD 
transmission. The aims of this study were to 1) investigate the transmission of 
CWD from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; CWD-wtd), mule deer 
(Odocoileus hemionus; CWD-md), or elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni; CWD-elk) to 
reindeer via the intracranial route, and 2) to assess for direct and indirect 
horizontal transmission to non-inoculated sentinels. Three groups of 5 reindeer 
fawns were challenged intracranially with CWD-wtd, CWD-md, or CWD-elk. Two years 
after challenge of inoculated reindeer, non-inoculated control reindeer were 
introduced into the same pen as the CWD-wtd inoculated reindeer (n=4) or into a 
pen adjacent to the CWD-md inoculated reindeer (n=2). Reindeer were allowed to 
develop clinical disease. At death/euthanasia a complete necropsy examination 
was performed, including immunohistochemical testing of tissues for 
disease-associated CWD prion protein (PrP-CWD). Intracranially challenged 
reindeer developed clinical disease from 21 months post-inoculation (MPI). 
PrP-CWD was detected in 5/6 sentinel reindeer although only 2/6 developed 
clinical disease during the study period (<57 div="" mpi=""> 57>
 
***We have shown that reindeer are susceptible to CWD from various cervid 
sources and can transmit CWD to naive reindeer both directly and indirectly. 
 
Last Modified: 12/3/2015 
 
 
***PrP-CWD was detected in 5/6 sentinel reindeer although only 2/6 
developed clinical disease during the study period (<57 div="" mpi=""> 
57>
 
***We have shown that reindeer are susceptible to CWD from various cervid 
sources and can transmit CWD to naive reindeer both directly and indirectly. 
 
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 
 
*** Transmission of chronic wasting disease to sentinel reindeer (Rangifer 
tarandus tarandus) can transmit CWD to naive reindeer both directly and 
indirectly 
 
Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF 
TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES 
 
 
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION AKA MAD COW TYPE DISEASE 
 
Friday, January 01, 2016 
 
Bayesian Modeling of Prion Disease Dynamics in Mule Deer Using Population 
Monitoring and Capture-Recapture Data 
 
Chris Geremia, Michael W. Miller, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Michael F. Antolin, 
N. Thompson Hobbs PLOS x Published: October 28, 2015 DOI: 
10.1371/journal.pone.0140687 
 
Abstract 
 
Epidemics of chronic wasting disease (CWD) of North American Cervidae have 
potential to harm ecosystems and economies. We studied a migratory population of 
mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) affected by CWD for at least three decades using 
a Bayesian framework to integrate matrix population and disease models with 
long-term monitoring data and detailed process-level studies. We hypothesized 
CWD prevalence would be stable or increase between two observation periods 
during the late 1990s and after 2010, with higher CWD prevalence making deer 
population decline more likely. The weight of evidence suggested a reduction in 
the CWD outbreak over time, perhaps in response to intervening harvest-mediated 
population reductions. Disease effects on deer population growth under current 
conditions were subtle with a 72% chance that CWD depressed population growth. 
With CWD, we forecasted a growth rate near one and largely stable deer 
population. Disease effects appear to be moderated by timing of infection, 
prolonged disease course, and locally variable infection. Long-term outcomes 
will depend heavily on whether current conditions hold and high prevalence 
remains a localized phenomenon. 
 
Discussion 
 
The protracted time-scale of the CWD outbreak is much longer than the 
timespan of our research, which limits our ability to identify the true 
explanation of our findings. Nonetheless, our research suggests that, at least 
for the foreseeable future (e.g., decades), mule deer populations sharing the 
overall survival and infection probabilities estimated from our analyses may 
persist but likely will not thrive where CWD becomes established as an endemic 
infectious disease. 
 
 
‘’Nonetheless, our research suggests that, at least for the foreseeable 
future (e.g., decades), mule deer populations sharing the overall survival and 
infection probabilities estimated from our analyses may persist but likely will 
not thrive where CWD becomes established as an endemic infectious disease. ‘’ 
 
*** Bayesian Modeling of Prion Disease Dynamics in Mule Deer Using 
Population Monitoring and Capture-Recapture Data 
 
‘’Mountain lions prey selectively on CWD infected deer [33] and CWD could 
result in an abundance of vulnerable prey, thereby enhancing mountain lion 
survival and reproduction [20].’’ 
 
please see ; 
 
‘’preliminary results suggesting that bobcats (Lynx rufus) may be 
susceptible to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) chronic wasting 
disease agent.’’ 
 
references on Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy FSE toward the bottom, see ; 
 
Assessing Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Species Barriers with an 
In Vitro Prion Protein Conversion Assay 
 
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 
 
Chronic Wasting Disease will cause a Wyoming deer herd to go virtually 
extinct in 41 years, a five-year study predicts 
 
Study: Chronic Wasting Disease kills 19% of deer herd annually 
 
 
*** Infectious agent of sheep scrapie may persist in the environment for at 
least 16 years *** 
 
Gudmundur Georgsson1, Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3 
 
 
*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. 
The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. 
Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at 
this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had 
previously been occupied by sheep. 
 
 
PL1 
 
Using in vitro prion replication for high sensitive detection of prions and 
prionlike proteins and for understanding mechanisms of transmission.
 
Claudio Soto
 
Mitchell Center for Alzheimer's diseases and related Brain disorders, 
Department of Neurology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
 
Prion and prion-like proteins are misfolded protein aggregates with the 
ability to selfpropagate to spread disease between cells, organs and in some 
cases across individuals. I n T r a n s m i s s i b l e s p o n g i f o r m 
encephalopathies (TSEs), prions are mostly composed by a misfolded form of the 
prion protein (PrPSc), which propagates by transmitting its misfolding to the 
normal prion protein (PrPC). The availability of a procedure to replicate prions 
in the laboratory may be important to study the mechanism of prion and 
prion-like spreading and to develop high sensitive detection of small quantities 
of misfolded proteins in biological fluids, tissues and environmental samples. 
Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) is a simple, fast and efficient 
methodology to mimic prion replication in the test tube. PMCA is a platform 
technology that may enable amplification of any prion-like misfolded protein 
aggregating through a seeding/nucleation process. In TSEs, PMCA is able to 
detect the equivalent of one single molecule of infectious PrPSc and propagate 
prions that maintain high infectivity, strain properties and species 
specificity. Using PMCA we have been able to detect PrPSc in blood and urine of 
experimentally infected animals and humans affected by vCJD with high 
sensitivity and specificity. Recently, we have expanded the principles of PMCA 
to amplify amyloid-beta (Aβ) and alphasynuclein (α-syn) aggregates implicated in 
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, respectively. Experiments are ongoing to 
study the utility of this technology to detect Aβ and α-syn aggregates in 
samples of CSF and blood from patients affected by these diseases.
 
=========================
 
***Recently, we have been using PMCA to study the role of environmental 
prion contamination on the horizontal spreading of TSEs. These experiments have 
focused on the study of the interaction of prions with plants and 
environmentally relevant surfaces. Our results show that plants (both leaves and 
roots) bind tightly to prions present in brain extracts and excreta (urine and 
feces) and retain even small quantities of PrPSc for long periods of time. 
Strikingly, ingestion of prioncontaminated leaves and roots produced disease 
with a 100% attack rate and an incubation period not substantially longer than 
feeding animals directly with scrapie brain homogenate. Furthermore, plants can 
uptake prions from contaminated soil and transport them to different parts of 
the plant tissue (stem and leaves). Similarly, prions bind tightly to a variety 
of environmentally relevant surfaces, including stones, wood, metals, plastic, 
glass, cement, etc. Prion contaminated surfaces efficiently transmit prion 
disease when these materials were directly injected into the brain of animals 
and strikingly when the contaminated surfaces were just placed in the animal 
cage. These findings demonstrate that environmental materials can efficiently 
bind infectious prions and act as carriers of infectivity, suggesting that they 
may play an important role in the horizontal transmission of the disease.
 
========================
 
Since its invention 13 years ago, PMCA has helped to answer fundamental 
questions of prion propagation and has broad applications in research areas 
including the food industry, blood bank safety and human and veterinary disease 
diagnosis. 
 
 
see ;
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 
 
Objects in contact with classical scrapie sheep act as a reservoir for 
scrapie transmission 
 
Objects in contact with classical scrapie sheep act as a reservoir for 
scrapie transmission 
 
Timm Konold1*, Stephen A. C. Hawkins2, Lisa C. Thurston3, Ben C. Maddison4, 
Kevin C. Gough5, Anthony Duarte1 and Hugh A. Simmons1 
 
1 Animal Sciences Unit, Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge, 
Addlestone, UK, 2 Pathology Department, Animal and Plant Health Agency 
Weybridge, Addlestone, UK, 3 Surveillance and Laboratory Services, Animal and 
Plant Health Agency Penrith, Penrith, UK, 4 ADAS UK, School of Veterinary 
Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, UK, 5 School 
of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, 
UK 
 
Classical scrapie is an environmentally transmissible prion disease of 
sheep and goats. Prions can persist and remain potentially infectious in the 
environment for many years and thus pose a risk of infecting animals after 
re-stocking. In vitro studies using serial protein misfolding cyclic 
amplification (sPMCA) have suggested that objects on a scrapie affected sheep 
farm could contribute to disease transmission. This in vivo study aimed to 
determine the role of field furniture (water troughs, feeding troughs, fencing, 
and other objects that sheep may rub against) used by a scrapie-infected sheep 
flock as a vector for disease transmission to scrapie-free lambs with the prion 
protein genotype VRQ/VRQ, which is associated with high susceptibility to 
classical scrapie. When the field furniture was placed in clean accommodation, 
sheep became infected when exposed to either a water trough (four out of five) 
or to objects used for rubbing (four out of seven). This field furniture had 
been used by the scrapie-infected flock 8 weeks earlier and had previously been 
shown to harbor scrapie prions by sPMCA. Sheep also became infected (20 out of 
23) through exposure to contaminated field furniture placed within pasture not 
used by scrapie-infected sheep for 40 months, even though swabs from this 
furniture tested negative by PMCA. This infection rate decreased (1 out of 12) 
on the same paddock after replacement with clean field furniture. Twelve grazing 
sheep exposed to field furniture not in contact with scrapie-infected sheep for 
18 months remained scrapie free. The findings of this study highlight the role 
of field furniture used by scrapie-infected sheep to act as a reservoir for 
disease re-introduction although infectivity declines considerably if the field 
furniture has not been in contact with scrapie-infected sheep for several 
months. PMCA may not be as sensitive as VRQ/VRQ sheep to test for environmental 
contamination. 
 
snip... 
 
Discussion 
 
Classical scrapie is an environmentally transmissible disease because it 
has been reported in naïve, supposedly previously unexposed sheep placed in 
pastures formerly occupied by scrapie-infected sheep (4, 19, 20). Although the 
vector for disease transmission is not known, soil is likely to be an important 
reservoir for prions (2) where – based on studies in rodents – prions can adhere 
to minerals as a biologically active form (21) and remain infectious for more 
than 2 years (22). Similarly, chronic wasting disease (CWD) has re-occurred in 
mule deer housed in paddocks used by infected deer 2 years earlier, which was 
assumed to be through foraging and soil consumption (23). 
 
Our study suggested that the risk of acquiring scrapie infection was 
greater through exposure to contaminated wooden, plastic, and metal surfaces via 
water or food troughs, fencing, and hurdles than through grazing. Drinking from 
a water trough used by the scrapie flock was sufficient to cause infection in 
sheep in a clean building. Exposure to fences and other objects used for rubbing 
also led to infection, which supported the hypothesis that skin may be a vector 
for disease transmission (9). The risk of these objects to cause infection was 
further demonstrated when 87% of 23 sheep presented with PrPSc in lymphoid 
tissue after grazing on one of the paddocks, which contained metal hurdles, a 
metal lamb creep and a water trough in contact with the scrapie flock up to 8 
weeks earlier, whereas no infection had been demonstrated previously in sheep 
grazing on this paddock, when equipped with new fencing and field furniture. 
When the contaminated furniture and fencing were removed, the infection rate 
dropped significantly to 8% of 12 sheep, with soil of the paddock as the most 
likely source of infection caused by shedding of prions from the 
scrapie-infected sheep in this paddock up to a week earlier. 
 
This study also indicated that the level of contamination of field 
furniture sufficient to cause infection was dependent on two factors: stage of 
incubation period and time of last use by scrapie-infected sheep. Drinking from 
a water trough that had been used by scrapie sheep in the predominantly 
pre-clinical phase did not appear to cause infection, whereas infection was 
shown in sheep drinking from the water trough used by scrapie sheep in the later 
stage of the disease. It is possible that contamination occurred through 
shedding of prions in saliva, which may have contaminated the surface of the 
water trough and subsequently the water when it was refilled. Contamination 
appeared to be sufficient to cause infection only if the trough was in contact 
with sheep that included clinical cases. Indeed, there is an increased risk of 
bodily fluid infectivity with disease progression in scrapie (24) and CWD (25) 
based on PrPSc detection by sPMCA. Although ultraviolet light and heat under 
natural conditions do not inactivate prions (26), furniture in contact with the 
scrapie flock, which was assumed to be sufficiently contaminated to cause 
infection, did not act as vector for disease if not used for 18 months, which 
suggest that the weathering process alone was sufficient to inactivate prions. 
 
PrPSc detection by sPMCA is increasingly used as a surrogate for 
infectivity measurements by bioassay in sheep or mice. In this reported study, 
however, the levels of PrPSc present in the environment were below the limit of 
detection of the sPMCA method, yet were still sufficient to cause infection of 
in-contact animals. In the present study, the outdoor objects were removed from 
the infected flock 8 weeks prior to sampling and were positive by sPMCA at very 
low levels (2 out of 37 reactions). As this sPMCA assay also yielded 2 positive 
reactions out of 139 in samples from the scrapie-free farm, the sPMCA assay 
could not detect PrPSc on any of the objects above the background of the assay. 
False positive reactions with sPMCA at a low frequency associated with de novo 
formation of infectious prions have been reported (27, 28). This is in contrast 
to our previous study where we demonstrated that outdoor objects that had been 
in contact with the scrapie-infected flock up to 20 days prior to sampling 
harbored PrPSc that was detectable by sPMCA analysis [4 out of 15 reactions 
(12)] and was significantly more positive by the assay compared to analogous 
samples from the scrapie-free farm. This discrepancy could be due to the use of 
a different sPMCA substrate between the studies that may alter the efficiency of 
amplification of the environmental PrPSc. In addition, the present study had a 
longer timeframe between the objects being in contact with the infected flock 
and sampling, which may affect the levels of extractable PrPSc. Alternatively, 
there may be potentially patchy contamination of this furniture with PrPSc, 
which may have been missed by swabbing. The failure of sPMCA to detect 
CWD-associated PrP in saliva from clinically affected deer despite confirmation 
of infectivity in saliva-inoculated transgenic mice was associated with as yet 
unidentified inhibitors in saliva (29), and it is possible that the sensitivity 
of sPMCA is affected by other substances in the tested material. In addition, 
sampling of amplifiable PrPSc and subsequent detection by sPMCA may be more 
difficult from furniture exposed to weather, which is supported by the 
observation that PrPSc was detected by sPMCA more frequently in indoor than 
outdoor furniture (12). A recent experimental study has demonstrated that 
repeated cycles of drying and wetting of prion-contaminated soil, equivalent to 
what is expected under natural weathering conditions, could reduce PMCA 
amplification efficiency and extend the incubation period in hamsters inoculated 
with soil samples (30). This seems to apply also to this study even though the 
reduction in infectivity was more dramatic in the sPMCA assays than in the sheep 
model. Sheep were not kept until clinical end-point, which would have enabled us 
to compare incubation periods, but the lack of infection in sheep exposed to 
furniture that had not been in contact with scrapie sheep for a longer time 
period supports the hypothesis that prion degradation and subsequent loss of 
infectivity occurs even under natural conditions. 
 
In conclusion, the results in the current study indicate that removal of 
furniture that had been in contact with scrapie-infected animals should be 
recommended, particularly since cleaning and decontamination may not effectively 
remove scrapie infectivity (31), even though infectivity declines considerably 
if the pasture and the field furniture have not been in contact with 
scrapie-infected sheep for several months. As sPMCA failed to detect PrPSc in 
furniture that was subjected to weathering, even though exposure led to 
infection in sheep, this method may not always be reliable in predicting the 
risk of scrapie infection through environmental contamination. These results 
suggest that the VRQ/VRQ sheep model may be more sensitive than sPMCA for the 
detection of environmentally associated scrapie, and suggest that extremely low 
levels of scrapie contamination are able to cause infection in susceptible sheep 
genotypes. 
 
Keywords: classical scrapie, prion, transmissible spongiform 
encephalopathy, sheep, field furniture, reservoir, serial protein misfolding 
cyclic amplification 
 
 
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 
 
*** Objects in contact with classical scrapie sheep act as a reservoir for 
scrapie transmission ***
 
 
Circulation of prions within dust on a scrapie affected farm
 
Kevin C Gough1, Claire A Baker2, Hugh A Simmons3, Steve A Hawkins3 and Ben 
C Maddison2*
 
Abstract
 
Prion diseases are fatal neurological disorders that affect humans and 
animals. Scrapie of sheep/goats and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) of deer/elk 
are contagious prion diseases where environmental reservoirs have a direct link 
to the transmission of disease. Using protein misfolding cyclic amplification we 
demonstrate that scrapie PrPSc can be detected within circulating dusts that are 
present on a farm that is naturally contaminated with sheep scrapie. The 
presence of infectious scrapie within airborne dusts may represent a possible 
route of infection and illustrates the difficulties that may be associated with 
the effective decontamination of such scrapie affected premises.
 
snip...
 
Discussion
 
We present biochemical data illustrating the airborne movement of scrapie 
containing material within a contaminated farm environment. We were able to 
detect scrapie PrPSc within extracts from dusts collected over a 70 day period, 
in the absence of any sheep activity. We were also able to detect scrapie PrPSc 
within dusts collected within pasture at 30 m but not at 60 m distance away from 
the scrapie contaminated buildings, suggesting that the chance of contamination 
of pasture by scrapie contaminated dusts decreases with distance from 
contaminated farm buildings. PrPSc amplification by sPMCA has been shown to 
correlate with infectivity and amplified products have been shown to be 
infectious [14,15]. These experiments illustrate the potential for low dose 
scrapie infectivity to be present within such samples. We estimate low ng levels 
of scrapie positive brain equivalent were deposited per m2 over 70 days, in a 
barn previously occupied by sheep affected with scrapie. This movement of dusts 
and the accumulation of low levels of scrapie infectivity within this 
environment may in part explain previous observations where despite stringent 
pen decontamination regimens healthy lambs still became scrapie infected after 
apparent exposure from their environment alone [16]. The presence of sPMCA 
seeding activity and by inference, infectious prions within dusts, and their 
potential for airborne dissemination is highly novel and may have implications 
for the spread of scrapie within infected premises. The low level circulation 
and accumulation of scrapie prion containing dust material within the farm 
environment will likely impede the efficient decontamination of such scrapie 
contaminated buildings unless all possible reservoirs of dust are removed. 
Scrapie containing dusts could possibly infect animals during feeding and 
drinking, and respiratory and conjunctival routes may also be involved. It has 
been demonstrated that scrapie can be efficiently transmitted via the nasal 
route in sheep [17], as is also the case for CWD in both murine models and in 
white tailed deer [18-20].
 
The sources of dust borne prions are unknown but it seems reasonable to 
assume that faecal, urine, skin, parturient material and saliva-derived prions 
may contribute to this mobile environmental reservoir of infectivity. This work 
highlights a possible transmission route for scrapie within the farm 
environment, and this is likely to be paralleled in CWD which shows strong 
similarities with scrapie in terms of prion dissemination and disease 
transmission. The data indicate that the presence of scrapie prions in dust is 
likely to make the control of these diseases a considerable challenge.
 
 
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...
 
 
Saturday, January 31, 2015 
 
European red deer (Cervus elaphus elaphus) are susceptible to Bovine 
Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE by Oral Alimentary route
 
 
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? ***
 
31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT 
 
 
Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF 
TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES 
 
Title: Scrapie transmits to white-tailed deer by the oral route and has a 
molecular profile similar to chronic wasting disease 
 
Authors 
 
item Greenlee, Justin item Moore, S - item Smith, Jodi - item Kunkle, 
Robert item West Greenlee, M - 
 
Submitted to: American College of Veterinary Pathologists Meeting 
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: August 12, 2015 
Publication Date: N/A Technical Abstract: The purpose of this work was to 
determine susceptibility of white-tailed deer (WTD) to the agent of sheep 
scrapie and to compare the resultant PrPSc to that of the original inoculum and 
chronic wasting disease (CWD). We inoculated WTD by a natural route of exposure 
(concurrent oral and intranasal (IN); n=5) with a US scrapie isolate. All 
scrapie-inoculated deer had evidence of PrPSc accumulation. PrPSc was detected 
in lymphoid tissues at preclinical time points, and deer necropsied after 28 
months post-inoculation had clinical signs, spongiform encephalopathy, and 
widespread distribution of PrPSc in neural and lymphoid tissues. Western 
blotting (WB) revealed PrPSc with 2 distinct molecular profiles. WB on cerebral 
cortex had a profile similar to the original scrapie inoculum, whereas WB of 
brainstem, cerebellum, or lymph nodes revealed PrPSc with a higher profile 
resembling CWD. Homogenates with the 2 distinct profiles from WTD with clinical 
scrapie were further passaged to mice expressing cervid prion protein and 
intranasally to sheep and WTD. In cervidized mice, the two inocula have distinct 
incubation times. Sheep inoculated intranasally with WTD derived scrapie 
developed disease, but only after inoculation with the inoculum that had a 
scrapie-like profile. The WTD study is ongoing, but deer in both inoculation 
groups are positive for PrPSc by rectal mucosal biopsy. In summary, this work 
demonstrates that WTD are susceptible to the agent of scrapie, two distinct 
molecular profiles of PrPSc are present in the tissues of affected deer, and 
inoculum of either profile readily passes to deer. 
 
 
 
White-tailed Deer are Susceptible to Scrapie by Natural Route of Infection 
 
Jodi D. Smith, Justin J. Greenlee, and Robert A. Kunkle; Virus and Prion 
Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS 
 
Interspecies transmission studies afford the opportunity to better 
understand the potential host range and origins of prion diseases. Previous 
experiments demonstrated that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep-derived 
scrapie by intracranial inoculation. The purpose of this study was to determine 
susceptibility of white-tailed deer to scrapie after a natural route of 
exposure. Deer (n=5) were inoculated by concurrent oral (30 ml) and intranasal 
(1 ml) instillation of a 10% (wt/vol) brain homogenate derived from a sheep 
clinically affected with scrapie. Non-inoculated deer were maintained as 
negative controls. All deer were observed daily for clinical signs. Deer were 
euthanized and necropsied when neurologic disease was evident, and tissues were 
examined for abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and 
western blot (WB). One animal was euthanized 15 months post-inoculation (MPI) 
due to an injury. At that time, examination of obex and lymphoid tissues by IHC 
was positive, but WB of obex and colliculus were negative. Remaining deer 
developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied 
from 28 to 33 MPI. Tissues from these deer were positive for scrapie by IHC and 
WB. Tissues with PrPSc immunoreactivity included brain, tonsil, retropharyngeal 
and mesenteric lymph nodes, hemal node, Peyer’s patches, and spleen. This work 
demonstrates for the first time that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep 
scrapie by potential natural routes of inoculation. In-depth analysis of tissues 
will be done to determine similarities between scrapie in deer after 
intracranial and oral/intranasal inoculation and chronic wasting disease 
resulting from similar routes of inoculation. 
 
see full text ; 
 
 
PO-039: A comparison of scrapie and chronic wasting disease in white-tailed 
deer 
 
Justin Greenlee, Jodi Smith, Eric Nicholson US Dept. Agriculture; 
Agricultural Research Service, National Animal Disease Center; Ames, IA USA 
 
 
White-tailed deer are susceptible to the agent of sheep scrapie by 
intracerebral inoculation 
 
snip...
 
It is unlikely that CWD will be eradicated from free-ranging cervids, and 
the disease is likely to continue to spread geographically [10]. However, the 
potential that white-tailed deer may be susceptible to sheep scrapie by a 
natural route presents an additional confounding factor to halting the spread of 
CWD. This leads to the additional speculations that 
 
1) infected deer could serve as a reservoir to infect sheep with scrapie 
offering challenges to scrapie eradication efforts and 
 
2) CWD spread need not remain geographically confined to current endemic 
areas, but could occur anywhere that sheep with scrapie and susceptible cervids 
cohabitate.
 
This work demonstrates for the first time that white-tailed deer are 
susceptible to sheep scrapie by intracerebral inoculation with a high attack 
rate and that the disease that results has similarities to CWD. These 
experiments will be repeated with a more natural route of inoculation to 
determine the likelihood of the potential transmission of sheep scrapie to 
white-tailed deer. If scrapie were to occur in white-tailed deer, results of 
this study indicate that it would be detected as a TSE, but may be difficult to 
differentiate from CWD without in-depth biochemical analysis. 
 
 
 
2012 
 
PO-039: A comparison of scrapie and chronic wasting disease in white-tailed 
deer 
 
Justin Greenlee, Jodi Smith, Eric Nicholson US Dept. Agriculture; 
Agricultural Research Service, National Animal Disease Center; Ames, IA USA 
 
snip...
 
The results of this study suggest that there are many similarities in the 
manifestation of CWD and scrapie in WTD after IC inoculation including early and 
widespread presence of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues, clinical signs of depression 
and weight loss progressing to wasting, and an incubation time of 21-23 months. 
Moreover, western blots (WB) done on brain material from the obex region have a 
molecular profile similar to CWD and distinct from tissues of the cerebrum or 
the scrapie inoculum. However, results of microscopic and IHC examination 
indicate that there are differences between the lesions expected in CWD and 
those that occur in deer with scrapie: amyloid plaques were not noted in any 
sections of brain examined from these deer and the pattern of immunoreactivity 
by IHC was diffuse rather than plaque-like. 
 
*** After a natural route of exposure, 100% of WTD were susceptible to 
scrapie. 
 
Deer developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were 
necropsied from 28 to 33 months PI. Tissues from these deer were positive for 
PrPSc by IHC and WB. Similar to IC inoculated deer, samples from these deer 
exhibited two different molecular profiles: samples from obex resembled CWD 
whereas those from cerebrum were similar to the original scrapie inoculum. On 
further examination by WB using a panel of antibodies, the tissues from deer 
with scrapie exhibit properties differing from tissues either from sheep with 
scrapie or WTD with CWD. Samples from WTD with CWD or sheep with scrapie are 
strongly immunoreactive when probed with mAb P4, however, samples from WTD with 
scrapie are only weakly immunoreactive. In contrast, when probed with mAb’s 6H4 
or SAF 84, samples from sheep with scrapie and WTD with CWD are weakly 
immunoreactive and samples from WTD with scrapie are strongly positive. This 
work demonstrates that WTD are highly susceptible to sheep scrapie, but on first 
passage, scrapie in WTD is differentiable from CWD. 
 
 
2011 
 
*** After a natural route of exposure, 100% of white-tailed deer were 
susceptible to scrapie. 
 
 
White-tailed Deer are Susceptible to Scrapie by Natural Route of Infection 
 
Jodi D. Smith, Justin J. Greenlee, and Robert A. Kunkle; Virus and Prion 
Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS 
 
Interspecies transmission studies afford the opportunity to better 
understand the potential host range and origins of prion diseases. Previous 
experiments demonstrated that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep-derived 
scrapie by intracranial inoculation. The purpose of this study was to determine 
susceptibility of white-tailed deer to scrapie after a natural route of 
exposure. Deer (n=5) were inoculated by concurrent oral (30 ml) and intranasal 
(1 ml) instillation of a 10% (wt/vol) brain homogenate derived from a sheep 
clinically affected with scrapie. Non-inoculated deer were maintained as 
negative controls. All deer were observed daily for clinical signs. Deer were 
euthanized and necropsied when neurologic disease was evident, and tissues were 
examined for abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and 
western blot (WB). One animal was euthanized 15 months post-inoculation (MPI) 
due to an injury. At that time, examination of obex and lymphoid tissues by IHC 
was positive, but WB of obex and colliculus were negative. Remaining deer 
developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied 
from 28 to 33 MPI. Tissues from these deer were positive for scrapie by IHC and 
WB. Tissues with PrPSc immunoreactivity included brain, tonsil, retropharyngeal 
and mesenteric lymph nodes, hemal node, Peyer’s patches, and spleen. This work 
demonstrates for the first time that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep 
scrapie by potential natural routes of inoculation. In-depth analysis of tissues 
will be done to determine similarities between scrapie in deer after 
intracranial and oral/intranasal inoculation and chronic wasting disease 
resulting from similar routes of inoculation. 
 
see full text ; 
 
 
Monday, November 3, 2014 
 
Persistence of ovine scrapie infectivity in a farm environment following 
cleaning and decontamination
 
 
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. 
 
 
HIGHEST INFECTION RATE ON SEVERAL CWD CONFIRMED CAPTIVES 
 
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: 
 
 
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). 
 
 
*** see history of this CWD blunder here ; 
 
 
On June 5, 2013, DNR conducted a fence inspection, after gaining approval 
from surrounding landowners, and confirmed that the fenced had been cut or 
removed in at least four separate locations; that the fence had degraded and was 
failing to maintain the enclosure around the Quarantined Premises in at least 
one area; that at least three gates had been opened;and that deer tracks were 
visible in and around one of the open areas in the sand on both sides of the 
fence, evidencing movement of deer into the Quarantined Premises. 
 
 
The overall incidence of clinical CWD in white-tailed deer was 82% 
 
Species (cohort) CWD (cases/total) Incidence (%) Age at CWD death (mo) 
 
 
”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations 
in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the 
respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as 
a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific 
research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and 
consequently not their province!” page 26. 
 
 
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, Valerie 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 long 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*** 
 
=============== 
 
 
========================================== 
 
***our findings suggest that possible transmission risk of H-type BSE to 
sheep and human. Bioassay will be required to determine whether the PMCA 
products are infectious to these animals. 
 
========================================== 
 
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 
 
*** 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. 
 
================== 
 
***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.*** 
 
================== 
 
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 
 
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.*** 
 
================ 
 
 
*** PRICE OF CWD TSE PRION POKER GOES UP 2014 *** 
 
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE PRION update January 2, 2014 
 
*** chronic wasting disease, there was no absolute barrier to conversion of 
the human prion protein. 
 
*** Furthermore, the form of human PrPres produced in this in vitro assay 
when seeded with CWD, resembles that found in the most common human prion 
disease, namely sCJD of the MM1 subtype. 
 
 
 
*** These results would seem to suggest that CWD does indeed have zoonotic 
potential, at least as judged by the compatibility of CWD prions and their human 
PrPC target. Furthermore, extrapolation from this simple in vitro assay suggests 
that if zoonotic CWD occurred, it would most likely effect those of the PRNP 
codon 129-MM genotype and that the PrPres type would be similar to that found in 
the most common subtype of sCJD (MM1).*** 
 
 
*** The potential impact of prion diseases on human health was greatly 
magnified by the recognition that interspecies transfer of BSE to humans by beef 
ingestion resulted in vCJD. While changes in animal feed constituents and 
slaughter practices appear to have curtailed vCJD, there is concern that CWD of 
free-ranging deer and elk in the U.S. might also cross the species barrier. 
Thus, consuming venison could be a source of human prion disease. Whether BSE 
and CWD represent interspecies scrapie transfer or are newly arisen prion 
diseases is unknown. Therefore, the possibility of transmission of prion disease 
through other food animals cannot be ruled out. There is evidence that vCJD can 
be transmitted through blood transfusion. There is likely a pool of unknown size 
of asymptomatic individuals infected with vCJD, and there may be asymptomatic 
individuals infected with the CWD equivalent. These circumstances represent a 
potential threat to blood, blood products, and plasma supplies. 
 
 
now, let’s see what the authors said about this casual link, personal 
communications years ago. see where it is stated NO STRONG evidence. so, does 
this mean there IS casual evidence ???? “Our conclusion stating that we found no 
strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans” 
 
From: TSS (216-119-163-189.ipset45.wt.net) 
 
Subject: CWD aka MAD DEER/ELK TO HUMANS ??? 
 
Date: September 30, 2002 at 7:06 am PST 
 
From: "Belay, Ermias" 
 
To: Cc: "Race, Richard (NIH)" ; ; "Belay, Ermias" 
 
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 9:22 AM 
 
Subject: RE: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS 
 
Dear Sir/Madam, 
 
In the Archives of Neurology you quoted (the abstract of which was attached 
to your email), we did not say CWD in humans will present like variant CJD. That 
assumption would be wrong. I encourage you to read the whole article and call me 
if you have questions or need more clarification (phone: 404-639-3091). Also, we 
do not claim that "no-one has ever been infected with prion disease from eating 
venison." Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD 
transmission to humans in the article you quoted or in any other forum is 
limited to the patients we investigated. 
 
Ermias Belay, M.D. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
 
-----Original Message----- 
 
From: Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 10:15 AM 
 
To: rr26k@nih.gov; rrace@niaid.nih.gov; ebb8@CDC.GOV 
 
Subject: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS 
 
Sunday, November 10, 2002 6:26 PM ......snip........end..............TSS 
 
Thursday, April 03, 2008 
 
A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease 2008 1: Vet Res. 2008 
Apr 3;39(4):41 A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease Sigurdson CJ. 
 
snip... 
 
*** twenty-seven CJD patients who regularly consumed venison were reported 
to the Surveillance Center***, 
 
snip... full text ; 
 
 
CJD is so rare in people under age 30, one case in a billion (leaving out 
medical mishaps), that four cases under 30 is "very high," says Colorado 
neurologist Bosque. "Then, if you add these other two from Wisconsin [cases in 
the newspaper], six cases of CJD in people associated with venison is very, very 
high." Only now, with Mary Riley, there are at least seven, and possibly eight, 
with Steve, her dining companion. "It's not critical mass that matters," 
however, Belay says. "One case would do it for me." The chance that two people 
who know each other would both contact CJD, like the two Wisconsin sportsmen, is 
so unlikely, experts say, it would happen only once in 140 years. 
 
Given the incubation period for TSEs in humans, it may require another 
generation to write the final chapter on CWD in Wisconsin. "Does chronic wasting 
disease pass into humans? We'll be able to answer that in 2022," says Race. 
Meanwhile, the state has become part of an immense experiment. 
 
 
I urge everyone to watch this video closely...terry
 
*** you can see video here and interview with Jeff's Mom, and scientist 
telling you to test everything and potential risk factors for humans *** 
 
 
Envt.07: 
 
Pathological Prion Protein (PrPTSE) in Skeletal Muscles of Farmed and Free 
Ranging White-Tailed Deer Infected with Chronic Wasting Disease 
 
***The presence and seeding activity of PrPTSE in skeletal muscle from 
CWD-infected cervids suggests prevention of such tissue in the human diet as a 
precautionary measure for food safety, pending on further clarification of 
whether CWD may be transmissible to humans. 
 
 
Prions in Skeletal Muscles of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease Rachel C. 
Angers1,*, Shawn R. Browning1,*,†, Tanya S. Seward2, Christina J. Sigurdson4,‡, 
Michael W. Miller5, Edward A. Hoover4, Glenn C. Telling1,2,3,§ snip...
 
Abstract The emergence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk in 
an increasingly wide geographic area, as well as the interspecies transmission 
of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans in the form of variant Creutzfeldt 
Jakob disease, have raised concerns about the zoonotic potential of CWD. Because 
meat consumption is the most likely means of exposure, it is important to 
determine whether skeletal muscle of diseased cervids contains prion 
infectivity. Here bioassays in transgenic mice expressing cervid prion protein 
revealed the presence of infectious prions in skeletal muscles of CWD-infected 
deer, demonstrating that humans consuming or handling meat from CWD-infected 
deer are at risk to prion exposure. 
 
 
***********CJD REPORT 1994 increased risk for consumption of veal and 
venison and lamb*********** 
 
CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE SURVEILLANCE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM THIRD ANNUAL 
REPORT AUGUST 1994 
 
Consumption of venison and veal was much less widespread among both cases 
and controls. For both of these meats there was evidence of a trend with 
increasing frequency of consumption being associated with increasing risk of 
CJD. (not nvCJD, but sporadic CJD...tss) 
 
These associations were largely unchanged when attention was restricted to 
pairs with data obtained from relatives. ... 
 
Table 9 presents the results of an analysis of these data. 
 
There is STRONG evidence of an association between ‘’regular’’ veal eating 
and risk of CJD (p = .0.01). 
 
Individuals reported to eat veal on average at least once a year appear to 
be at 13 TIMES THE RISK of individuals who have never eaten veal. 
 
There is, however, a very wide confidence interval around this estimate. 
There is no strong evidence that eating veal less than once per year is 
associated with increased risk of CJD (p = 0.51). 
 
The association between venison eating and risk of CJD shows similar 
pattern, with regular venison eating associated with a 9 FOLD INCREASE IN RISK 
OF CJD (p = 0.04). 
 
There is some evidence that risk of CJD INCREASES WITH INCREASING FREQUENCY 
OF LAMB EATING (p = 0.02). 
 
The evidence for such an association between beef eating and CJD is weaker 
(p = 0.14). When only controls for whom a relative was interviewed are included, 
this evidence becomes a little STRONGER (p = 0.08). 
 
snip... 
 
It was found that when veal was included in the model with another 
exposure, the association between veal and CJD remained statistically 
significant (p = < 0.05 for all exposures), while the other exposures ceased 
to be statistically significant (p = > 0.05). 
 
snip... 
 
In conclusion, an analysis of dietary histories revealed statistical 
associations between various meats/animal products and INCREASED RISK OF CJD. 
When some account was taken of possible confounding, the association between 
VEAL EATING AND RISK OF CJD EMERGED AS THE STRONGEST OF THESE ASSOCIATIONS 
STATISTICALLY. ... 
 
snip... 
 
In the study in the USA, a range of foodstuffs were associated with an 
increased risk of CJD, including liver consumption which was associated with an 
apparent SIX-FOLD INCREASE IN THE RISK OF CJD. By comparing the data from 3 
studies in relation to this particular dietary factor, the risk of liver 
consumption became non-significant with an odds ratio of 1.2 (PERSONAL 
COMMUNICATION, PROFESSOR A. HOFMAN. ERASMUS UNIVERSITY, ROTTERDAM). (???...TSS) 
 
snip...see full report ; 
 
 
CJD9/10022 
 
October 1994 
 
Mr R.N. Elmhirst Chairman British Deer Farmers Association Holly Lodge 
Spencers Lane BerksWell Coventry CV7 7BZ 
 
Dear Mr Elmhirst, 
 
CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE (CJD) SURVEILLANCE UNIT REPORT 
 
Thank you for your recent letter concerning the publication of the third 
annual report from the CJD Surveillance Unit. I am sorry that you are 
dissatisfied with the way in which this report was published. 
 
The Surveillance Unit is a completely independant outside body and the 
Department of Health is committed to publishing their reports as soon as they 
become available. In the circumstances it is not the practice to circulate the 
report for comment since the findings of the report would not be amended. In 
future we can ensure that the British Deer Farmers Association receives a copy 
of the report in advance of publication. 
 
The Chief Medical Officer has undertaken to keep the public fully informed 
of the results of any research in respect of CJD. This report was entirely the 
work of the unit and was produced completely independantly of the the 
Department. 
 
The statistical results reqarding the consumption of venison was put into 
perspective in the body of the report and was not mentioned at all in the press 
release. Media attention regarding this report was low key but gave a realistic 
presentation of the statistical findings of the Unit. This approach to 
publication was successful in that consumption of venison was highlighted only 
once by the media ie. in the News at one television proqramme. 
 
I believe that a further statement about the report, or indeed statistical 
links between CJD and consumption of venison, would increase, and quite possibly 
give damaging credence, to the whole issue. From the low key media reports of 
which I am aware it seems unlikely that venison consumption will suffer 
adversely, if at all. 
 
 
*** These results would seem to suggest that CWD does indeed have zoonotic 
potential, at least as judged by the compatibility of CWD prions and their human 
PrPC target. Furthermore, extrapolation from this simple in vitro assay suggests 
that if zoonotic CWD occurred, it would most likely effect those of the PRNP 
codon 129-MM genotype and that the PrPres type would be similar to that found in 
the most common subtype of sCJD (MM1).*** 
 
 
***This information will have a scientific impact since it is the first 
study that demonstrates the transmission of scrapie to a non-human primate with 
a close genetic relationship to humans. This information is especially useful to 
regulatory officials and those involved with risk assessment of the potential 
transmission of animal prion diseases to humans. 
 
***This observation strengthens the questioning of the harmlessness of 
scrapie to humans, at a time when protective measures for human and animal 
health are being dismantled and reduced as c-BSE is considered controlled and 
being eradicated. Our results underscore the importance of precautionary and 
protective measures and the necessity for long-term experimental transmission 
studies to assess the zoonotic potential of other animal prion strains. 
 
 
Thursday, January 15, 2015
 
INDIANA HB1453 - high fence hunting preserve bill has been introduced by 
Rep. Sean Eberhart and he received monetary contribution from Indiana Deer and 
Elk Farmers Advocates INC. Indiana Politicians and contributions from the Game 
Farm Industry, and whom is taking the bait $$$ will this buy their vote in 
support of the cervid game farming industry ??? Indiana Secretary of State 
Connie Lawson Summary by: Type Summary Groupings Total Direct $12,500.00 Total 
Contributions = $12,500.00 11 matching record(s) found. Export To: Contributor 
City, State Type Amount Date Candidate/Committee Name In Kind? Large? Indiana 
Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/25/2012 
Bob Heaton for State Representative Committee No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk 
Farmers Advocates Inc Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 11/01/2012 Steele for 
Senate Committee No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc 
Shipshewana, IN Direct $2,000.00 08/18/2014 Cindy Meyer Ziemke for State Rep. No 
No View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct 
$500.00 11/26/2012 COMMITTEE TO ELECT BOB CHERRY No No View Indiana Deer and Elk 
Farmers Advocates INC. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/12/2012 Committee to 
Elect Matt Ubelhor No No View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc. 
Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/01/2012 Markmessmer.com No No View Indiana 
Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/25/2012 
HERSHMAN FOR SENATE No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates PAC 
Shipshewana, IN Direct $2,000.00 09/02/2014 Committee to Elect Sean Eberhart No 
No View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates, Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct 
$1,000.00 10/15/2012 BILL FRIEND FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE No Yes View 
Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates, Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 
10/22/2012 Committee to Elect Dan Leonard No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk 
Farmers Advoctes PAC Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/23/2012 Committee to 
Elect Sean Eberhart No Yes View 
 
 
Total Contributions = $9,500.00 9 matching record(s) found. Export To: 
Contributor City, State Type Amount Date Candidate/Committee Name In Kind? 
Large? Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc Shipshewana, IN Direct 
$1,000.00 10/25/2012 Bob Heaton for State Representative Committee No Yes View 
Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 
11/01/2012 Steele for Senate Committee No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers 
Advocates Inc Shipshewana, IN Direct $2,000.00 08/18/2014 Cindy Meyer Ziemke for 
State Rep. No No View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc. Shipshewana, 
IN Direct $500.00 11/26/2012 COMMITTEE TO ELECT BOB CHERRY No No View Indiana 
Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates INC. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/12/2012 
Committee to Elect Matt Ubelhor No No View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers 
Advocates Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/01/2012 Markmessmer.com No No 
View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers Advocates Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct 
$1,000.00 10/25/2012 HERSHMAN FOR SENATE No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk 
Farmers Advocates, Inc. Shipshewana, IN Direct $1,000.00 10/15/2012 BILL FRIEND 
FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE No Yes View Indiana Deer and Elk Farmers 
Advocates, Inc. Shipshewana, IN 
 
 
Thursday, January 15, 2015
 
INDIANA HB1453 - high fence hunting preserve bill has been introduced by 
Rep. Sean Eberhart and he received monetary contribution from Indiana Deer and 
Elk Farmers Advocates INC. Indiana Politicians and contributions from the Game 
Farm Industry, and whom is taking the bait $$$ will this buy their vote in 
support of the cervid game farming industry ???
 
 
Monday, January 11, 2016 
 
*** INDIANA SB109 HIGH FENCE HUNTING LEGISLATION AND RISK FACTORS FOR 
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION
 
 
Thursday, January 21, 2016 
 
INDIANA With end of long legal challenge last year, high-fence hunting 
operations currently unregulated 
 
 
 
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.