Chronic Wasting Disease: Detection of Prions in Blood of Cervids at the Asymptomatic Stage of Chronic Wasting Disease

Detection of Prions in Blood of Cervids at the Asymptomatic Stage of Chronic Wasting Disease

Carlos Kramm, Sandra Pritzkow, Adam Lyon, Tracy Nichols, Rodrigo Morales & Claudio Soto

Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 17241 (2017) doi:10.1038/s41598-017-17090-x

Download Citation NeurodegenerationPathogens

Received: 21 August 2017

Accepted: 21 November 2017

Published online: 08 December 2017

Abstract

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a rapidly spreading prion disorder affecting captive and free-ranging cervids. The zoonotic potential of CWD is unknown, as well as the mechanism for its highly efficient transmission. A top priority to minimize further spreading of this disease and its potential impact on environmental prion contamination is the development of a non-invasive, sensitive, and specific test for ante-mortem detection of infected animals. Here, we optimized the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) assay for highly efficient detection of CWD prions in blood samples. Studies were done using a blind panel of 98 field-collected samples of whole blood from codon 96 glycine/glycine, captive white-tailed deer that were analyzed for prion infection post-mortem by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The results showed a sensitivity of 100% in animals with very poor body condition that were IHC-positive in both brain and lymph nodes, 96% in asymptomatic deer IHC-positive in brain and lymph nodes and 53% in animals at early stages of infection that were IHC-positive only in lymph nodes. The overall mean diagnostic sensitivity was 79.3% with 100% specificity. These findings show that PMCA might be useful as a blood test for routine, live animal diagnosis of CWD.

snip...

Discussion

A safe, non-invasive, sensitive and specific live animal test to identify cervids infected with CWD prions is a top priority to control further spreading of this emerging infectious disease. Availability of such a test could have many important applications, including: (i) screening of deer farms to remove infected animals before they can spread substantial amounts of prions into the environment; (ii) monitoring the efficacy of prion decontamination procedures; (iii) monitoring the extent of environmental prion contamination; and (iv) whole herd screenings for determination of CWD status.

Currently, the only definitive way to diagnose CWD is by post-mortem examination of brain and lymphoid tissues for the presence of PrPSc by IHC, the current gold standard for prion detection. Various attempts have been made to develop a test for ante-mortem detection of prions during the long, silent period between prion infection and the onset of clinical signs of the disease, which can encompass several months or years. One strategy that has been evaluated is palatine tonsil biopsy followed by IHC analysis48. However, this method is invasive and time consuming, and requires anesthesia that may lead to complications. An alternative possibility for ante-mortem CWD detection, is rectal biopsy followed by IHC analysis for protease resistant PrPSc. Various independent studies have shown the efficacy of this procedure for pre-clinical detection of prions in CWD-infected animals24,25,26. In a collaborative study between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the USDA, a detailed analysis was done for the sensitivity and specificity of IHC detection of PrPSc in rectal biopsy samples25. For this study, samples were collected post-mortem from white-tailed deer in four CWD-infected herds. PrPSc detection was compared to the CWD infection rate estimated by IHC analysis of the obex and MRPLN. The overall diagnostic sensitivity of this assay was estimated at 68%, including all stages of the disease and all polymorphic variants analyzed25. The study also showed a clear correlation between disease progression, genotype at codon 96 and the presence of PrPSc signal in rectal biopsy samples. Disease progression was estimated from the presence and degree of PrPSc signal in obex as well as prion detection in MRPLN. In early disease progression (low obex grades), the diagnostic sensitivity of the rectal biopsy assay was 36% in samples from animals that did not have PrPSc in brain, but were positive in MRPLN25. The genotype at codon 96 also strongly influenced the outcome of the rectal biopsy IHC, with GG animals having a higher detection rate than GS and SS animals25. Sensitivity was slightly increased by using RT-QuIC instead of IHC, reaching an overall diagnostic sensitivity (including all disease stages and polymorphisms) of 70% in samples obtained by rectal biopsy36. In this study, sensitivity for RT-QuIC in rectal samples from animals negative in the obex was 25%, compared to only 8% using IHC. However, several false positives were found using this technique, decreasing specificity to 94%36. The same authors also analyzed the efficacy of RT-QuIC using nasal brushing as a less invasive sample collection compared to rectal biopsy. The results showed a diagnostic sensitivity of only 34%49, suggesting that this strategy is significantly less effective for cervid samples than human sCJD samples50.

In our blind study using field collected blood samples from white-tailed deer, we found a mean overall diagnostic sensitivity of 79.3%, with 100% specificity. Sensitivity for blood samples from CWD-infected animals at the pre-clinical stage of the disease was 96%, when were IHC positive in both the obex and the MRPLN. For similar samples in which only the MRPLN was IHC positive, sensitivity was reduced to 53%. Provided that the infection status of these animals was correctly determined by IHC and because of the extremely high sensitivity of PMCA, which is able to detect few particles of PrPSc aggregates45,46, these results suggest that at some stages of the pre-clinical disease, infected animals may not have PrPSc in blood. Since obtaining blood samples is relatively non-invasive, a much more accurate ante-mortem laboratory diagnosis of CWD could be done by repeating the PMCA test multiple times in live animals. This scheme is useful because sensitivity approaches 100% as the disease progress. Nevertheless, further studies need to be done employing larger number of samples in which the status of prion infection has been confirmed by IHC and a biochemical procedure (western blot or ELISA), as well as analyzing the efficacy of the test in animals harboring the less frequent Prnp genotypes (such as GS and SS at position 96). Studies should also be done in blood samples longitudinally collected from experimentally infected deer to determine the earliest time in which PrPSc can be detected by PMCA and the dynamic changes on the PrPSc levels present in blood during the incubation period. Our results suggest that PMCA may provide a suitable platform for rapid prion diagnosis in farmed and wild cervids. Early and non-invasive CWD prion detection could not only help to control severely affected premises, but also be useful for surveillance of areas where CWD cases are not yet known to occur.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17090-x

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION ZOONOTIC ZOONOSIS

PRICE OF TSE PRION POKER GOES UP!

2017

Subject: ***CDC Now Recommends Strongly consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before you eat the meat

CDC Now Recommends Strongly consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before you eat the meat

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

Prevention

If CWD could spread to people, it would most likely be through eating of infected deer and elk. In a 2006-2007 CDC survey of U.S. residents, nearly 20 percent of those surveyed said they had hunted deer or elk and more than two-thirds said they had eaten venison or elk meat. However, to date, no CWD infections have been reported in people.

Hunters must consider many factors when determining whether to eat meat from deer and elk harvested from areas with CWD, including the level of risk they are willing to accept. Hunters harvesting wild deer and elk from areas with reported CWD should check state wildlife and public health guidance to see whether testing of animals is recommended or required in a given state or region. In areas where CWD is known to be present, CDC recommends that hunters strongly consider having those animals tested before eating the meat.

Tests for CWD are monitoring tools that some state wildlife officials use to look at the rates of CWD in certain animal populations. Testing may not be available in every state, and states may use these tests in different ways. A negative test result does not guarantee that an individual animal is not infected with CWD, but it does make it considerably less likely and may reduce your risk of exposure to CWD.

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD:

Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill). When field-dressing a deer: Wear latex or rubber gloves when dressing the animal or handling the meat. Minimize how much you handle the organs of the animal, particularly the brain or spinal cord tissues. Do not use household knives or other kitchen utensils for field dressing. Check state wildlife and public health guidance to see whether testing of animals is recommended or required. Recommendations vary by state, but information about testing is available from many state wildlife agencies. Strongly consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before you eat the meat. If you have your deer or elk commercially processed, consider asking that your animal be processed individually to avoid mixing meat from multiple animals. If your animal tests positive for CWD, do not eat meat from that animal. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regulates commercially farmed deer and elk. The agency operates a national CWD herd certification program. As part of the voluntary program, states and individual herd owners agree to meet requirements meant to decrease the risk of CWD in their herds. Privately owned herds that do not participate in the herd certification program may be at increased risk for CWD.

Page last reviewed: August 17, 2017 Page last updated: August 17, 2017 Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP)

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/prevention.html

> However, to date, no CWD infections have been reported in people.

key word here is 'reported'. science has shown that CWD in humans will look like sporadic CJD. SO, how can one assume that CWD has not already transmitted to humans? they can't, and it's as simple as that. from all recorded science to date, CWD has already transmitted to humans, and it's being misdiagnosed as sporadic CJD. ...terry

LOOKING FOR CWD IN HUMANS AS nvCJD or as an ATYPICAL CJD, LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES $$$

*** 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).***

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/pri.28124?src=recsys

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/pri.28124?needAccess=true

Molecular Barriers to Zoonotic Transmission of Prions

*** 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.

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/1/13-0858_article.htm

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

CDC Now Recommends Strongly consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before you eat the meat

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/09/cdc-now-recommends-strongly-consider.html

Prion 2017 Conference Abstracts CWD

2017 PRION CONFERENCE

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

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vtt1kAVDhDQ

http://prion2017.org/programme/

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

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/06/prion-2017-conference-abstract-first.html

TUESDAY, JULY 04, 2017

*** PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS ON CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/07/prion-2017-conference-abstracts-on.html

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Chronic Wasting Disease in European moose is associated with PrPSc features different from North American CWD

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/06/prion-2017-conference-abstract-chronic.html

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

PRION2017 CONFERENCE VIDEO UPDATE 23 – 26 May 2017 Edinburgh UPDATE 1

http://prionprp.blogspot.com/2017/05/prion2017-conference-video-update-23-26.html

SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2017

Risk Advisory Opinion: Potential Human Health Risks from Chronic Wasting Disease CFIA, PHAC, HC (HPFB and FNIHB), INAC, Parks Canada, ECCC and AAFC

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/07/risk-advisory-opinion-potential-human.html

Prion Infectivity in Fat of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease▿

Brent Race#, Kimberly Meade-White#, Richard Race and Bruce Chesebro* + Author Affiliations

In mice, prion infectivity was recently detected in fat. Since ruminant fat is consumed by humans and fed to animals, we determined infectivity titers in fat from two CWD-infected deer. Deer fat devoid of muscle contained low levels of CWD infectivity and might be a risk factor for prion infection of other species.

http://jvi.asm.org/content/83/18/9608.full

Prions in Skeletal Muscles of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease

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.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/311/5764/1117.long

*** WDA 2016 NEW YORK ***

We found that CWD adapts to a new host more readily than BSE and that human PrP was unexpectedly prone to misfolding by CWD prions. In addition, we investigated the role of specific regions of the bovine, deer and human PrP protein in resistance to conversion by prions from another species. We have concluded that the human protein has a region that confers unusual susceptibility to conversion by CWD prions.

Wildlife Disease Risk Communication Research Contributes to Wildlife Trust Administration Exploring perceptions about chronic wasting disease risks among wildlife and agriculture professionals and stakeholders

http://www.wda2016.org/uploads/5/8/6/1/58613359/wda_2016_conference_proceedings_low_res.pdf

Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions: An Update Prion 2016 Tokyo Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions: An Update

Ignazio Cali1, Liuting Qing1, Jue Yuan1, Shenghai Huang2, Diane Kofskey1,3, Nicholas Maurer1, Debbie McKenzie4, Jiri Safar1,3,5, Wenquan Zou1,3,5,6, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Qingzhong Kong1,5,6

1Department of Pathology, 3National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, 5Department of Neurology, 6National Center for Regenerative Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.

4Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,

2Encore Health Resources, 1331 Lamar St, Houston, TX 77010

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a widespread and highly transmissible prion disease in free-ranging and captive cervid species in North America. The zoonotic potential of CWD prions is a serious public health concern, but the susceptibility of human CNS and peripheral organs to CWD prions remains largely unresolved. We reported earlier that peripheral and CNS infections were detected in transgenic mice expressing human PrP129M or PrP129V. Here we will present an update on this project, including evidence for strain dependence and influence of cervid PrP polymorphisms on CWD zoonosis as well as the characteristics of experimental human CWD prions.

PRION 2016 TOKYO

In Conjunction with Asia Pacific Prion Symposium 2016

PRION 2016 Tokyo

Prion 2016

http://prion2016.org/dl/newsletter_03.pdf

Cervid to human prion transmission

Kong, Qingzhong

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States

Abstract

Prion disease is transmissible and invariably fatal. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the prion disease affecting deer, elk and moose, and it is a widespread and expanding epidemic affecting 22 US States and 2 Canadian provinces so far. CWD poses the most serious zoonotic prion transmission risks in North America because of huge venison consumption (>6 million deer/elk hunted and consumed annually in the USA alone), significant prion infectivity in muscles and other tissues/fluids from CWD-affected cervids, and usually high levels of individual exposure to CWD resulting from consumption of the affected animal among often just family and friends. However, we still do not know whether CWD prions can infect humans in the brain or peripheral tissues or whether clinical/asymptomatic CWD zoonosis has already occurred, and we have no essays to reliably detect CWD infection in humans. We hypothesize that:

(1) The classic CWD prion strain can infect humans at low levels in the brain and peripheral lymphoid tissues;

(2) The cervid-to-human transmission barrier is dependent on the cervid prion strain and influenced by the host (human) prion protein (PrP) primary sequence;

(3) Reliable essays can be established to detect CWD infection in humans;and

(4) CWD transmission to humans has already occurred. We will test these hypotheses in 4 Aims using transgenic (Tg) mouse models and complementary in vitro approaches.

Aim 1 will prove that the classical CWD strain may infect humans in brain or peripheral lymphoid tissues at low levels by conducting systemic bioassays in a set of "humanized" Tg mouse lines expressing common human PrP variants using a number of CWD isolates at varying doses and routes. Experimental "human CWD" samples will also be generated for Aim 3.

Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that the cervid-to-human prion transmission barrier is dependent on prion strain and influenced by the host (human) PrP sequence by examining and comparing the transmission efficiency and phenotypes of several atypical/unusual CWD isolates/strains as well as a few prion strains from other species that have adapted to cervid PrP sequence, utilizing the same panel of humanized Tg mouse lines as in Aim 1.

Aim 3 will establish reliable essays for detection and surveillance of CWD infection in humans by examining in details the clinical, pathological, biochemical and in vitro seeding properties of existing and future experimental "human CWD" samples generated from Aims 1-2 and compare them with those of common sporadic human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) prions.

Aim 4 will attempt to detect clinical CWD-affected human cases by examining a significant number of brain samples from prion-affected human subjects in the USA and Canada who have consumed venison from CWD-endemic areas utilizing the criteria and essays established in Aim 3. The findings from this proposal will greatly advance our understandings on the potential and characteristics of cervid prion transmission in humans, establish reliable essays for CWD zoonosis and potentially discover the first case(s) of CWD infection in humans.

Public Health Relevance There are significant and increasing human exposure to cervid prions because chronic wasting disease (CWD, a widespread and highly infectious prion disease among deer and elk in North America) continues spreading and consumption of venison remains popular, but our understanding on cervid-to-human prion transmission is still very limited, raising public health concerns. This proposal aims to define the zoonotic risks of cervid prions and set up and apply essays to detect CWD zoonosis using mouse models and in vitro methods. The findings will greatly expand our knowledge on the potentials and characteristics of cervid prion transmission in humans, establish reliable essays for such infections and may discover the first case(s) of CWD infection in humans.

Funding Agency Agency National Institute of Health (NIH)

Institute National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Type Research Project (R01)

Project # 1R01NS088604-01A1

Application # 9037884

Study Section Cellular and Molecular Biology of Neurodegeneration Study Section (CMND)

Program Officer Wong, May

Project Start 2015-09-30

Project End 2019-07-31

Budget Start 2015-09-30

Budget End 2016-07-31

Support Year 1

Fiscal Year 2015

Total Cost $337,507

Indirect Cost $118,756

Institution

Name Case Western Reserve University

Department Pathology

Type Schools of Medicine

DUNS # 077758407

City Cleveland

State OH

Country United States

Zip Code 44106

http://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-NS088604-01A1 http://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-NS088604-01A1

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 ;

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/04/prion-disease-of-cervids-chronic.html

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 ***

https://histodb11.usz.ch/Images/videos/video-004/video-004.html

*** 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.

http://cdmrp.army.mil/prevfunded/nprp/NPRP_Summit_Final_Report.pdf

BSE INQUIRY

*** 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). ***

*** 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 ;

https://web.archive.org/web/20170126073306/http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20090505194948/http://bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/08/00004001.pdf

you can see more evidence here ;

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2016/05/zoonotic-potential-of-cwd-prions-update.html

Chronic wasting disease AND TISSUES THAT MIGHT CARRY A RISK FOR HUMAN FOOD AND ANIMAL FEED CHAINS REPORT

https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/sci-com_ssc_out324_en.pdf

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2017

Experimental transfusion of variant CJD-infected blood reveals previously uncharacterised prion disorder in mice and macaque

''On secondary and tertiary transmissions, however, the proportion of PrPres positive animals gradually increased to almost 100%.

''Recent communications suggest that a similar situation might exist in other models of experimental exposure to prions involving swine32 and cattle33.''

''Experimental transfusion of variant CJD-infected blood reveals previously uncharacterised prion disorder in mice and macaque''

http://vcjd.blogspot.com/2017/11/experimental-transfusion-of-variant-cjd.html

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2017

Public health risks from subclinical variant CJD

http://vcjd.blogspot.com/2017/12/public-health-risks-from-subclinical.html

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.

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

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

Transmission data also revealed that several scrapie prions propagate in HuPrP-Tg mice with efﬁciency comparable to that of cattle BSE. While the efﬁciency of transmission at primary passage was low, subsequent passages resulted in a highly virulent prion disease in both Met129 and Val129 mice. Transmission of the different scrapie isolates in these mice leads to the emergence of prion strain phenotypes that showed similar characteristics to those displayed by MM1 or VV2 sCJD prion. These results demonstrate that scrapie prions have a zoonotic potential and raise new questions about the possible link between animal and human prions.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19336896.2016.1163048?journalCode=kprn20

SPONTANEOUS ATYPICAL BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

***Moreover, sporadic disease has never been observed in breeding colonies or primate research laboratories, most notably among hundreds of animals over several decades of study at the National Institutes of Health25, and in nearly twenty older animals continuously housed in our own facility.***

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep11573

*** 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.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170126060744/http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

COLORADO THE ORIGIN OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION?

IN CONFIDENCE, REPORT OF AN UNCONVENTIONAL SLOW VIRUS DISEASE IN ANIMALS IN THE USA 1989 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

ALSO, one of the most, if not the most top TSE Prion God in Science today is Professor Adriano Aguzzi, and he recently commented on just this, on a cwd post on my facebook page August 20 at 1:44pm, quote;

''it pains me to no end to even comtemplate the possibility, but it seems entirely plausible that CWD originated from scientist-made spread of scrapie from sheep to deer in the colorado research facility. If true, a terrible burden for those involved.'' August 20 at 1:44pm ...end

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2017

Colorado Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion Mandatory Submission of test samples in some areas and zoonosis

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2017/09/colorado-chronic-wasting-disease-cwd.html

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017

Blood-derived amyloid-β protein induces Alzheimer’s disease pathologies

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2017/11/blood-derived-amyloid-protein-induces.html

MONDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2017

Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease United States of America USA and United Kingdom UK Increasing and Zoonotic Pontential From Different Species

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2017/10/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-united-states.html

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017

*** Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States revisited 2017

Singeltary et al