June 30, 2017 – Ottawa, ON - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is updating its national chronic wasting disease (CWD) program to better focus on disease prevention and risk management.
Disease management is a shared responsibility. Efforts to eradicate CWD in the farmed cervid population have not been successful. As a result, the CFIA's new approach aims to reduce the risk of the disease spreading by encouraging producers to adopt strong risk mitigation measures.
As of December 31, 2017, the CFIA's response and compensation will only be provided to producers enrolled in a Voluntary Herd Certification Program (VHCP). A transition period is being provided throughout 2018 to give producers time to enroll in and complete 12 months in a VHCP.
As of January 1, 2019, the CFIA's response and compensation will only apply if the affected producer has been enrolled in and compliant with a VHCP for at least 12 months.
CFIA's response includes movement controls, ordering destruction and disposal of infected herds, and providing compensation to producers.
A VHCP requires enrolled producers to take measures to mitigate the risk of CWD, including ongoing surveillance testing of mature dead cervids and implementation of biosecurity measures.
More information about VHCPs is available in the Accredited Veterinarian's Manual, chapter 13.
Key dates:
June 30, 2017: Announcement of program change to producers, associations and other affected organizations.
December 31, 2017: Implementation of program change. After December 31, 2017, producers need to enroll in a VHCP to be eligible for response and compensation.
January 1, 2018 – December 31, 2018: During this transition period, producers should contact the regional administrator of the VHCP available in their area and consider enrolling in the program in order to control de risk of CWD entering their herd and to be eligible for federal response and compensation.
January 1, 2019: Full implementation of program change. As of January 1, 2019, only producers that have been enrolled in and compliant with a VHCP for at least 12 months will be eligible for CFIA's response and compensation.
Notice to Members Regarding Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
Posted on: May 31st, 2017
To: MNA Members
From: Métis Nation of Alberta
Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) was made aware of a recent Canadian research study examining the transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease. The initial results of the study indicate that macaque monkeys (genetically similar to humans) can be infected with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) after eating deer that is infected with CWD. CWD is a prion disease, which are fatal, transmissible diseases characterized by abnormal proteins in the brain and nervous system. To date no research has shown that CWD can be passed on to humans, and no human cases of CWD have ever been identified. However, this new research indicates that it is a possibility. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health has reached out to us to share with our Métis harvesters this important information. For more information you can visit:
What the Alberta Government knows:
CWD circulates in deer populations, particularly mule deer; it has been found in about 4% of deer tested in 2016;
Elk can be infected in areas where CWD has been present in deer for a long period of time;
Moose can also be infected, but this would be fairly rare.
Necessary Precautions for Harvesters:
First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress
Stefanie Czub1, Walter Schulz-Schaeffer2, Christiane Stahl-Hennig3, Michael Beekes4, Hermann Schaetzl5 and Dirk Motzkus6 1
University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/Canadian Food Inspection Agency; 2Universitatsklinikum des Saarlandes und Medizinische Fakultat der Universitat des Saarlandes; 3 Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen; 4 Robert-Koch-Institut Berlin; 5 University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; 6 presently: Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Research Center; previously: Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen
This is a progress report of a project which started in 2009. 21 cynomolgus macaques were challenged with characterized CWD material from white-tailed deer (WTD) or elk by intracerebral (ic), oral, and skin exposure routes. Additional blood transfusion experiments are supposed to assess the CWD contamination risk of human blood product. Challenge materials originated from symptomatic cervids for ic, skin scarification and partially per oral routes (WTD brain). Challenge material for feeding of muscle derived from preclinical WTD and from preclinical macaques for blood transfusion experiments. We have confirmed that the CWD challenge material contained at least two different CWD agents (brain material) as well as CWD prions in muscle-associated nerves.
Here we present first data on a group of animals either challenged ic with steel wires or per orally and sacrificed with incubation times ranging from 4.5 to 6.9 years at postmortem. Three animals displayed signs of mild clinical disease, including anxiety, apathy, ataxia and/or tremor. In four animals wasting was observed, two of those had confirmed diabetes. All animals have variable signs of prion neuropathology in spinal cords and brains and by supersensitive IHC, reaction was detected in spinal cord segments of all animals. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuiC) and PET-blot assays to further substantiate these findings are on the way, as well as bioassays in bank voles and transgenic mice.
At present, a total of 10 animals are sacrificed and read-outs are ongoing. Preclinical incubation of the remaining macaques covers a range from 6.4 to 7.10 years. Based on the species barrier and an incubation time of > 5 years for BSE in macaques and about 10 years for scrapie in macaques, we expected an onset of clinical disease beyond 6 years post inoculation.
PRION 2017 DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
Subject: PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS VIDEO
PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
PRION 2017 CONFERENCE VIDEO
Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion to Humans, who makes that final call, when, or, has it already happened?
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017
PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress
SURVEILLANCE DATA - CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
BACKGROUND
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a disease of the brain of deer, elk and moose which is similar to BSE (mad cow disease) in cattle and scrapie in sheep. It was introduced into farmed elk in Saskatchewan from infected elk imported from the US in the late 1980s, and has since spread to wild white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk populations in several locations within Saskatchewan and Alberta. The disease is caused by infectious proteins, called prions, which can be transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or by contact with environments contaminated with these infectious agents. Infected animals become weak and emaciated and tend to drink large amounts of water and salivate excessively. CWD is invariably fatal and could have severe impacts of deer populations throughout North America. It appears unlikely the disease can be transmitted to humans and most domestic animals but the full host range of CWD is unknown.
WHAT WE ARE DOING
Beginning in 1997, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the CWHC started a CWD surveillance program for wild deer, elk and moose. This surveillance program was based primarily on the testing of hunter-killed animals and to a lesser extent on the testing of sick or dead cervids. The program ended in 2012 with over 45 000 heads tested and a total of 387 positives from 20 Wildlife Management Zones (WMZs) (see map). The CWHC continues to test cervids that are submitted through our diagnostic program and we have continued to diagnose CWD in new areas. Starting in 2006 the CWHC embarked on a research program in Saskatchewan with the aid of PrioNet and the MOE to look at factors affecting the spread of CWD. Phase I of the project focused on direct and indirect contact rates, habitat selection, long distance movements and survival trends as they relate to CWD. Phase II which began in 2009 focused on direct observations of mule deer and their use of environmental sites to determine risk of infection by CWD.
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