Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Missouri Donald Hill, et al., Respondents, vs. Missouri Department of Conservation, et al., Appellants SC96739 Captive Cervid Ownership and CWD TSE Prion

Missouri Donald Hill, et al., Respondents, vs. Missouri Department of Conservation, et al., Appellants SC96739 Captive Cervid Ownership

Summary of SC96739, Donald Hill, et al. v. Missouri Department of Conservation, et al.

Appeal from the Gasconade County circuit court, Judge Robert Schollmeyer Argued and submitted January 10, 2018; opinion issued July 3, 2018 Attorneys: The commission was represented by William Ray Price Jr., J. Kent Lowrey, Jeffery T. McPherson, Alexander C. Barrett and Paul Louis Brusati of Armstrong Teasdale LLP in St. Louis, (314) 621-5070; and the industry participants were represented by Jean Paul Bradshaw II, John A. (Jay) Felton, J. Eric Weslander, Rachel E. Stephens and Kurt U. Shchaefer of Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, (816) 292-2000.

This summary is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by communications counsel for the convenience of the reader. It neither has been reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court and should not be quoted or cited.

Overview: The state’s conservation commission, its members and the conservation department (collectively, the commission) appeal the circuit court’s judgment declaring invalid certain regulations governing the “captive cervid industry” and enjoining the commission from enforcing the regulations. In a unanimous decision written by Judge Paul C. Wilson, the Supreme Court of Missouri reverses the judgment and enters judgment in the commission’s favor. Under the state constitution, the terms “game” and “wildlife” are unambiguous, the commission has authority to regulate captive cervids as “game” and “wildlife,” and the captive cervids owned by the industry participants here are subject to such regulation. Further, the industry participants failed to show they are protected by the state constitution’s right to farm. 

Facts: Under article IV, section 40(a) of the state constitution, the state’s conservation commission regulates the state’s bird, fish, game, forestry and wildlife resources. Acting through the state’s conservation department, the commission regulates a variety of animal species, including elk and deer, which are of a family of species called “cervids.” Participants in a “captive cervid industry” typically engage in selective breeding of cervids and operating private hunting preserves. Cervids can be infected with a fatal neurodegenerative disease known as chronic wasting disease, which first was detected in Missouri in 2010 on a ranch now known as Winter Quarters Wildlife Ranch LLC. Since then, the disease – which has an incubation period of 18 months and can go undetected long before the infected animal shows any symptoms – has been detected, post-mortem, in additional deer in Missouri. In an attempt to eradicate the disease, the commission proposed a series of regulatory amendments, to take effect in January 2015, directed at the captive cervid industry. 

To prevent the regulations from taking effect, several industry participants – Donald Hill and Oak Creek Whitetail Ranch LLC, Travis Broadway and Winter Quarters Wildlife Ranch, and Kevin Grace and Whitetail Sales and Service LLC – sued the commission. Following a trial, the circuit court declared the challenged regulations were invalid and enjoined the commission from enforcing them. The commission appeals.

REVERSED.

Court en banc holds: (1) The terms “game” and “wildlife” as used in article IV, section 40(a) are unambiguous, and the commission has authority under that constitutional provision to regulate captive cervids as “game” and “wildlife.” In context, the term “wildlife” plainly 

2

includes all species that are wild by nature. The industry participants’ reading of the terms are unreasonable because they would have the commission’s authority be determined not on a rational species-by-species basis but on an unworkable animal-by-animal basis. Under their definition, the commission’s authority somehow would evaporate at some unexplained point at which an individual cervid might qualify as domesticated. Even if the terms were ambiguous, the history and context of article IV, section 40(a) strongly support the plain meaning of “wildlife” and “game.” Captive or domesticated cervid operations similar to those owned by the industry participants here existed in Missouri since at least the early 1900s – long before the constitutional provision was adopted in 1936 – and those operations were regulated under statutes expressly including cervids as “game” and “wildlife” even if they were domesticated or raised in captivity. This Court must presume the voters were aware of and accounted for this common use when they adopted article IV, section 40(a). After voters adopted the provision, the commission began to regulate captive cervid operations and, in 1941, adopted a code of regulations explaining that deer and elk – whether free or confined, wild or domesticated – are “game” and “wildlife.” The legislature subsequently adopted a definition of “wildlife” substantially similar to that used in federal law, which includes an animal as “wildlife” if the species to which the animal belongs is “wild,” regardless of whether an individual animal within such a species is raised and domesticated in captivity.

(2) The captive cervids owned by the industry participants here are subject to regulation by the commission under article IV, section 40(a) because they are members of a species considered “wildlife,” they are members of a species considered “game” and, even though they are owned privately, they are physically located within the state’s borders and, therefore, are “resources of the state.” As noted above, the commission’s regulations under article IV, section 40(a) always have regulated captive deer and elk owned by private parties. The phrase “resources of the state” plainly and unambiguously refers to resources inside the state’s territory or geographical boundaries. When Missouri voters approved the constitutional provisions creating the commission and authorizing it to regulate the game and wildlife “resources of the state,” they understood this authority would extend to resources throughout the state and not just those actually owned by the state.

(3) The industry participants failed to show they are engaged in a “farming [or] ranching practice” within the meaning of the state constitution’s “right to farm” in article I, section 35 and, therefore, cannot invoke this guarantee. Captive cervid operations such as those operated by the industry participants have been regulated closely for nearly a century, first by statute and later by regulations the commission adopted under article IV, section 40(a). The Court cannot conclude voters intended to overthrow this longstanding regulatory pattern when they adopted article I, section 35 in 2014 when there is no language in this provision to suggest they did so.


SUPREME COURT OF MISSOURI en banc

DONALD HILL, et al.,

Respondents,

v. 

MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF ) CONSERVATION, et al., )

Appellants.

No. SC96739

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF GASCONADE COUNTY

The Honorable Robert Schollmeyer, Judge

The Missouri Conservation Commission (“Commission”), its individual members,1 and the Missouri Department of Conservation (“Appellants”) appeal the judgment of the circuit court in this declaratory and injunctive relief action brought by Donald Hill and Oak Creek Whitetail Ranch, LLC, Travis Broadway and Winter Quarters Wildlife Ranch, LLC, and Kevin Grace and Whitetail Sales and Service LLC (“Respondents”). This Court has jurisdiction under article V, section 10 of the Missouri Constitution, and the judgment is reversed.

1 Don Bedell, James Blair, Marilynn Bradford, and David Murphy. 

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Conclusion 

For the reasons set forth above, the circuit court’s judgment in favor of Respondents is reversed and, pursuant to Rule 84.14, judgment is entered in favor of Appellants on all counts.


SC96739: Overview/Summary
Donald Hill, et al., Respondents, vs. Missouri Department of Conservation, et al., Appellants.
Author:  Judge Paul C. Wilson  Vote:  REVERSED. All concur.


see history;

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=120013


THIS WAS A GOOD DECISION IMO!

TSS
TUESDAY, JULY 03, 2018 

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion Global Report Update, USA, CANADA, KOREA, NORWAY, FINLAND, Game Farms and Fake news

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2017 North American Deer Summit: CWD Is Worse Than We Thought 
BY JOSH HONEYCUTT AUTHOR OF BROW TINES AND BACKSTRAP
JUNE 9, 2017
The Chronic Wasting Disease Situation Is a Serious Threat
Despite those who foolishly brush CWD under the rug and claim it should be of no concern to you, it is a problem. Above is one of two panels of experts that discussed CWD at the 2017 North American Deer Summit. (Brita Lewis Turbyfill photo) Despite those who foolishly brush CWD under the rug and claim it should be of no concern to you, it is a problem. Above is one of two panels of experts that discussed CWD at the 2017 North American Deer Summit. (Brita Lewis Turbyfill photo) 

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to worry deer biologists, managers and hunters across the country. It isn’t going away. It’s only getting worse.

Many people aren’t aware of CWD, or simply don’t understand the full breadth of the threat it poses. CWD is caused by an abnormal protein referred to as a prion. Prions are neither alive nor dead. You can’t kill it with heat or chemicals.

Once contracted, it is an always-fatal disease that thrives in the nervous system of cervids (deer, elk, reindeer and moose). It can be passed on through saliva, urine, feces, spinal and brain fluids, etc. Similar diseases affect other animals such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) which is also referred to as Mad Cow Disease. It’s also found in sheep, known as Scrapie. Interestingly enough, we already know that Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) — a sister disease to BSE and CWD — is capable of infecting humans.

The Issues We Face Several challenges arise with the big issue of CWD. First, we’re met with the challenge of detecting it. We don’t fully understand how it mutates (and science has proven that it can mutate). We have no cure. It’s killing deer throughout half the country and rapidly spreading. Managing it has been near to impossible. Too many people are brushing it under the rug. And funding we currently have for research, testing and management are pennies in comparison to what’s needed to defeat this disease.

“There are lots of hypotheses but very few facts we know about CWD,” said Dr. Grant Woods of Growing Deer TV. “There are some seemingly wild stories being spread such as ‘CWD is not a disease.’ It is a disease that as far as researchers know is 100 percent fatal to members of the deer family. There certainly seems to be a link between transporting deer and the spread of CWD. There are cases that have documented CWD-positive deer being moved and then new cases of CWD being detected at the destination. My message is that CWD is a very legitimate concern and that researchers, agencies, and sportsmen need valid information. Detailed research is needed hence funding is needed to protect deer species. They are certainly a national treasure.”

It’s Spreading to Places It’s Never Been

Ralph Meeker of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is on the front lines of the CWD battle. And Arkansas — a once declared CWD-free state little more than a year ago — is a prime example of just how fast things can change. According to Meeker, CWD was first detected there last February in a hunter-harvested elk. He said it was detected in a whitetail two weeks later. It’s already up to a 23 percent prevalence rate in the focal area. Approximately 20 percent of females and 32 percent of males have the disease where it’s prevailing most.

“I think Arkansas’s approach to managing CWD has been viewed by some people and organizations as being aggressive,” said Meeker. “However, our agency has spent a great deal of time with several different researchers, managers, and veterinarians from around the nation who are very familiar with CWD. And, I think that our agency has done a great job to ensure that we are asking the right questions in order to figure out what has and what hasn’t worked. Managing CWD is an example of adaptive management, adjusting deer management efforts on the ground to our every-changing knowledge of CWD.”

False Information Spread by the Captive Cervid Industry According to Lou Cornicelli of the Minnesota DNR and Clayton Wolf of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, many of those who have stock in the captive cervid industry will tell you high-fenced animals pose no threat to wild deer. They’ll say that CWD isn’t a serious disease and that it isn’t a significant threat to whitetails. Instead, they’ll claim it’s a political disease dreamed up to end high-fenced hunting. Some are even brave enough to say that EHD (a disease that is not always-fatal and entire populations of deer have grown resistant to) is more of a threat. So let’s put ethics and perceptions (of both hunters and non-hunters) of the high-fenced industry aside for a moment and only look at the health risks they pose to wild deer.

“Misinformation campaigns [spread] belief that CWD won’t impact hunting,” said Cornicelli. “First, the attempt by the farmed cervid industry to cast significant doubt about CWD, including bringing in paid consultants to cast that doubt. Second, some hunters are repeating much of the same information, I think to the detriment of long-term deer health. In some respects, there is a lack of desire to look past the immediate. Given deer are a public resource and agencies are charged with managing populations for the benefit of future generations, I think this is a real problem. A good discussion of how wildlife fits into the concept of Public Trust is important.”

It’s becoming a problem in states that allows captive breeding and hunting operations. This issue is especially growing in the likes of Texas and other key deer hunting states.

“While the disease appears to be off the radars of most hunters in Texas, except in areas where we have mandatory check stations, the majority of those who have been impacted have been cooperative and receptive to information that helps them make educated decisions regarding CWD,” said Wolf. “One of our greatest challenges, and an area we continue to struggle, is trying to debunk and correct the misinformation that’s out there about CWD. The majority of resistance and misinformation has originated from within the captive deer breeding community and its supporters. These folks are convinced the disease is political in nature, blown out of proportion by the government and those who are opposed to captive deer, and that CWD poses no real risk to the resource. Also, because 95 percent of Texas land falls under private ownership, we face an additional challenge from ranchers who fear the detection of CWD on their ranch could result in negative impacts to property values and revenue streams associated with hunting access.”

Is It True Humans Can’t Get It? 

It’s always been assumed that CWD cannot be transferred to humans. They also thought the same thing about Mad Cow Disease, until it happened, as well as hundreds of other diseases that can infect the human body. Interestingly enough, 70 percent of all human diseases originated from animals. At some point in history, each of those diseases — including some of the largest epidemics and pandemics — jumped the barrier and began to infect the human species. Can and/or will CWD do the same? We don’t yet know. But the latest research suggests it is much more likely than originally thought...

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THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2018 

Missouri Hunters For Fair Chase Docket No. APHIS-2018-0011 (APHIS) Notice: Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program Standards


TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2018 

Missouri MDC sets CWD sampling efforts for upcoming deer season with 75 free ranging deer confirmed positive to date


January 14, 2018

Missouri MDC REPORTS 15 NEW CASES OF CWD TSE Prion in Deer


TUESDAY, JULY 03, 2018 

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion Global Report Update, USA, CANADA, KOREA, NORWAY, FINLAND, Game Farms and Fake news


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

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

you cannot cook the TSE prion disease out of meat. 

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

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

the TSE prion agent also survives Simulated Wastewater Treatment Processes. 

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

you can bury it and it will not go away. 

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

it’s not your ordinary pathogen you can just cook it out and be done with. 

that’s what’s so worrisome about Iatrogenic mode of transmission, a simple autoclave will not kill this TSE prion agent.

1: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1994 Jun;57(6):757-8 

Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to a chimpanzee by electrodes contaminated during neurosurgery. 

Gibbs CJ Jr, Asher DM, Kobrine A, Amyx HL, Sulima MP, Gajdusek DC. 

Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies, National Institute of 

Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 

Bethesda, MD 20892. 

Stereotactic multicontact electrodes used to probe the cerebral cortex of a middle aged woman with progressive dementia were previously implicated in the accidental transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) to two younger patients. The diagnoses of CJD have been confirmed for all three cases. More than two years after their last use in humans, after three cleanings and repeated sterilisation in ethanol and formaldehyde vapour, the electrodes were implanted in the cortex of a chimpanzee. Eighteen months later the animal became ill with CJD. This finding serves to re-emphasise the potential danger posed by reuse of instruments contaminated with the agents of spongiform encephalopathies, even after scrupulous attempts to clean them. 

PMID: 8006664 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 



TITLE: PATHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE IN REINDEER AND DEMONSTRATION OF HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION 



 *** DECEMBER 2016 CDC EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL CWD HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION 



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

*** Nine of these recurrences occurred 14–21 years after culling

Gudmundur Georgsson,1 Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3

Correspondence Gudmundur Georgsson ggeorgs@hi.is

1 Institute for Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland, Keldur v/vesturlandsveg, IS-112 Reykjavı´k, Iceland

2 Laboratory of the Chief Veterinary Officer, Keldur, Iceland

3 Bethesda, Maryland, USA Received 7 March 2006 Accepted 6 August 2006

In 1978, a rigorous programme was implemented to stop the spread of, and subsequently eradicate, sheep scrapie in Iceland. Affected flocks were culled, premises were disinfected and, after 2–3 years, restocked with lambs from scrapie-free areas. Between 1978 and 2004, scrapie recurred on 33 farms. Nine of these recurrences occurred 14–21 years after culling, apparently as the result of environmental contamination, but outside entry could not always be absolutely excluded. Of special interest was one farm with a small, completely self-contained flock where scrapie recurred 18 years after culling, 2 years after some lambs had been housed in an old sheephouse that had never been disinfected. Epidemiological investigation established with near certitude that the disease had not been introduced from the outside and it is concluded that the agent may have persisted in the old sheep-house for at least 16 years.

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

Gudmundur Georgsson1, Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3 



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.

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***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.

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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. 


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


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


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


A Quantitative Assessment of the Amount of Prion Diverted to Category 1 Materials and Wastewater During Processing 


Rapid assessment of bovine spongiform encephalopathy prion inactivation by heat treatment in yellow grease produced in the industrial manufacturing process of meat and bone meals 


PPo4-4: 

Survival and Limited Spread of TSE Infectivity after Burial 



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 *** 


161: Prion soil binding may explain efficient horizontal CWD transmission 

Nathaniel Denkers1, Davin Henderson1, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt2, Jason Bartz3 and Edward Hoover1

1Colorado State University; Fort Collins, Colorado USA

2University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Omaha, Nebraska USA

3Creighton University; Omaha, Nebraska USA

Background Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is unique due to the facile spread in nature. The interaction of excreted CWD prions and soil is a hypothesized contributor in environmental transmission. The present study examines whether and to what degree CWD prions bind to silty clay loam (SCL) using an adapted version of real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) methodology.

Materials and Methods Varying amounts (50–3.12 mg) of SCL were incubated with 1 mL-serial dilutions of CWD (+), CWD (−), or no brain homogenate (BH). Samples were centrifuged, washed, diluted 1:10 in 0.1% SDS, and 2.5 uL seeded in RT-QuIC assays employing recombinant Syrian hamster prion PrP substrate. Multiple well replicates of sample and supernatant fractions were assayed for positive seeding activity (recorded as thioflavin T fluorescence emission; 480 nm). Samples were considered positive if they crossed a threshold of 25,000. Reaction rates (RR) were calculated, averaged, and expressed as 1/RR.

Results Positive seeding activity was detected for most SCL samples incubated with CWD (+) BH dilutions. Higher SCL concentrations (50 mg) produced low fluorescent readings due to optical interference. Lower SCL concentrations (6.25 mg) produced minimal optical interference and removed the vast majority of seeding activity from CWD+ BH in a concentration-dependent manner; determined by seeding activity in residual BH supernatants. Control SCL and supernatants produced minimal false-positive reactions (8 of 240 replicates; 3.3%). We estimated the prion binding capacity of SCL to be 0.16 ng/mg.

Conclusion Silty clay loam exhibits highly efficient prion binding, inferring a durable environmental reservoir, and an efficient mechanism for indirect horizontal CWD transmission.


TSE Scrapie, CWD, BSE, Prion, Soil

Clay content and pH: soil characteristic associations with the persistent presence of chronic wasting disease in northern Illinois

Sheena J. Dorak, Michelle L. Green, Michelle M. Wander, Marilyn O. Ruiz, Michael G. Buhnerkempe, Ting Tian, Jan E. Novakofski & Nohra E. Mateus-Pinilla

Scientific Reportsvolume 7, Article number: 18062(2017) doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18321-x

Download Citation

Ecological epidemiology Ecological modelling Infectious diseases Prions

Received: 21 August 2017

Accepted: 08 December 2017

Published online: 22 December 2017

Abstract

Environmental reservoirs are important to infectious disease transmission and persistence, but empirical analyses are relatively few. The natural environment is a reservoir for prions that cause chronic wasting disease (CWD) and influences the risk of transmission to susceptible cervids. Soil is one environmental component demonstrated to affect prion infectivity and persistence. Here we provide the first landscape predictive model for CWD based solely on soil characteristics. We built a boosted regression tree model to predict the probability of the persistent presence of CWD in a region of northern Illinois using CWD surveillance in deer and soils data. We evaluated the outcome for possible pathways by which soil characteristics may increase the probability of CWD transmission via environmental contamination. Soil clay content and pH were the most important predictive soil characteristics of the persistent presence of CWD. The results suggest that exposure to prions in the environment is greater where percent clay is less than 18% and soil pH is greater than 6.6. These characteristics could alter availability of prions immobilized in soil and contribute to the environmental risk factors involved in the epidemiological complexity of CWD infection in natural populations of white-tailed deer.


Oral Transmissibility of Prion Disease Is Enhanced by Binding to Soil Particles

Author Summary

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a group of incurable neurological diseases likely caused by a misfolded form of the prion protein. TSEs include scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (‘‘mad cow’’ disease) in cattle, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Scrapie and chronic wasting disease are unique among TSEs because they can be transmitted between animals, and the disease agents appear to persist in environments previously inhabited by infected animals. Soil has been hypothesized to act as a reservoir of infectivity and to bind the infectious agent. In the current study, we orally dosed experimental animals with a common clay mineral, montmorillonite, or whole soils laden with infectious prions, and compared the transmissibility to unbound agent. We found that prions bound to montmorillonite and whole soils remained orally infectious, and, in most cases, increased the oral transmission of disease compared to the unbound agent. The results presented in this study suggest that soil may contribute to environmental spread of TSEs by increasing the transmissibility of small amounts of infectious agent in the environment.


tse prion soil





cwd tse prion and soil, see more ;


MONDAY, MARCH 05, 2018 

TRUCKING AROUND AND SPREADING CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION VIA MOVEMENT OF CERVID AND TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES


MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

Rethinking Major grain organizations opposition to CFIA's control zone approach to Chronic Wasting CWD TSE Prion Mad Deer Type Disease 2017?


WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017

*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion aka Mad Deer Disease and the Real Estate Market Land Values ***


Sunday, January 06, 2013

USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE

*** "it‘s no longer its business.”

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/01/usda-to-pgc-once-captives-escape-its-no.html

Sunday, January 06, 2013

USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE

*** "it‘s no longer its business.”

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/01/usda-to-pgc-once-captives-escape-its-no.html

COLORADO THE ORIGIN OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION?

*** 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. 

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
”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.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060307063531/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

SHOOTING PENS (HIGH/LOW FENCE), CAPTIVE CERVID FARMING, BREEDING, SPERM MILLS, ANTLER MILLS, URINE MILLS, a petri dish for cwd tse prion disease...

*** 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

Subject: CWD TSE PRION 16 MONTH age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Wisconsin 16 MONTH age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised


also see;

Chronic Wasting Disease in a Wisconsin White-Tailed Deer Farm and 15 of 22 fawns aged 6 to 9 months (68.2%) were positive.



specific susceptibility? 194. It is probable, based on age-class specific prevalence data from wild cervids and epidemiological evidence from captive cervids in affected research centres, that both adults and fawns may become infected with CWD (Miller, Wild & Williams, 1998; Miller et al., 2000). 198. In Odocoileus virginianus – white tailed deer, out of 179 white-tailed deer which had become enclosed by an elk farm fence, in Sioux County, northwestern Nebraska, four fawns only eight months old were among the 50% of CWD-positive animals; these fawns were not showing any clinical signs of CWD (Davidson, 2002).


SCWDS BRIEFS

Volume 17 January 2002 Number 4

CWD News from Nebraska and Kansas

Infection with the chronic wasting disease (CWD) agent recently was found in 28 of 58 formerly wild white-tailed deer in a high-fenced enclosure adjacent to a pen containing CWDaffected captive elk in northern Sioux County, Nebraska.

***Four of the positive deer were fawns approximately 8 months old, which is unusually young for animals testing positive for CWD.



CWD in adult deer and fawns

***Five of the CWD-positive deer were fawns, less than 1 year of age.

Early CWD (PrPd detected in the tonsil or retropharyngeal node but not brain) was diagnosed in 14 deer (12 adults ranging from 1?5 to more than 5 years of age and two fawns). Late CWD (PrPd detectable in brain as well as lymphoid tissues) was diagnosed in 53 deer (50 adults ranging in age from 1?5 to 7 years of age and three fawns). None of the CWD-positive deer showed clinical signs of the disease (weight loss, hypersalivation, disorientation) or gross changes consistent with CWD (serous atrophy of fat) at necropsy.


Illinois CWD, see where there 2003 sampling showed 2. % of fawns tested had CWD i.e. 1 positive out of 51 samples.

2003

Boone-Winnebago Unit Fawn 51 1 2.0%


2011 FAWN CWD POSITIVE ILLINOIS

1/26/11 WINNEBAGO 344N 2E S36 F FAWN SHARPSHOOTING

2/10/11 OGLE 341N 1E S7 F FAWN SHARPSHOOTING

3/9/11 OGLE 341N 1E S7 M FAWN SHARPSHOOTING


For example, in 2008 a fawn tested positive and in 2010 an infected yearling buck was detected in Smith County



P172 Multigenerational transmission of CWD prions from mother to offspring

Erin Mcnulty1, MS Amy Nalls1, Dr Clare Hoover1, Dr Jenny Powers2, Dr Edward Hoover1, Dr Candace Mathiason1 1Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States, 2National Park Services, Fort Collins, United States

Aims: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to demonstrate geographic expansion, now found in captive and/or free-range cervid populations in North America, South Korea and Norway. While horizontal transmission is credited for much of the spread of CWD, few studies have monitored the transmission of this disease from mother-to-offspring.

CWD-infected muntjac dams are able to become pregnant, carry, deliver and rear offspring during the long asymptomatic phase of prion infection. We have demonstrated that CWD prions can be transmitted from mother to first-generation offspring leading to prion infection and subsequent development of TSE disease, and that transmission occurs during gestation (Nalls 2013). We have also observed fecundity in first-generation offspring. In fact, one first-generation female muntjac gave birth to two nonviable second-generation offspring. Tissues harvested from these nonviable second-generation offspring harbor protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) competent prions.

Recently we revealed PrPC seeding activity and infectious prions within the reproductive milieu (uterus, ovaries, placentomes, amniotic fluid) of CWD-infected Reeve’s muntjac dams by PMCA, real time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) and bioassay. The presence of CWD prions in the pregnancy microenvironment begs the question: Is it possible CWD is transmitted from one generation to the next via intrauterine or germline exposure to infectious prions?

Methods: To begin to address this question we assessed tissues harvested from full-term second-generation nonviable muntjac offspring for infectivity by mouse bioassay. Transgenic mice expressing the cervid prion protein, Tg(CerPrP-E226)5037+/- (n=6/cohort), were IP-inoculated with PMCA-amplified lung, mammary gland, kidney or uterus from nonviable 2nd generation muntjac offspring (n=2) born to a first generation dam (n=1), or PMCA-amplified age and tissue-matched negative control second-generation offspring (n=2). Mice from all cohorts were examined for prions by western blot and RTQuIC.

Results: All mice (n=20) inoculated with PMCA-amplified tissue from “gestational CWD-exposed” second-generation offspring developed signs consistent with TSE disease, including severe ataxia and weight loss between 209-373 days pi, and were confirmed CWD positive by western blot and RT-QuIC. Negative control mice (n=9) receiving PMCA-amplified negative age and tissue-matched homogenates remained healthy and TSE-free for the same duration. Studies have been initiated to further assess the relationship between prions in ovaries and CWD transmission.

Conclusions: Our data indicates that: (1) multigenerational transmission of infectious CWD prions from mother-to-offspring may be possible and (2) early and persistent exposure of the developing embryo to infectious CWD prions in the uterine microenvironment may help explain the facile transmission of CWD in the native host.

=====

P176 Infectious CWD prions at the fetal-maternal interface

Ms. Amy Nalls1, Ms. Erin McNulty1, Ms. Laura Pulscher1, Dr. Clare Hoover1, Dr. Edward Hoover1, Dr. Candace Mathiason1 1Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States

Aims: Ample evidence exists for the trafficking of infectious agents across the placenta, often with grave outcomes to the developing fetus (i.e. zika, brucella, cytomegalovirus). While less studied, pregnancy-related transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) have been implicated in several species, including humans.

Our previous work demonstrated that prions can be transferred from mother-to-offspring resulting in the development of clinical TSE disease in offspring born to CWD-infected muntjac dams (Nalls 2013). We also revealed PMCA-prion seeding activity in maternal and fetal tissues harvested in utero from muntjac dams at various stages of pregnancy and CWD infection. What remained unknown was whether the prions detected at the fetal-maternal interface were infectious. In addition, we were interested to determine if the ultrasensitive RT-QuIC methodology may enhance our ability to detect prion seeding activity within the pregnancy microenvironment.

We undertook this study to assess CWD infectivity and RT-QuIC PrPc seeding activity in in utero harvested— (1) female reproductive tissues and fluids associated with the pregnancy microenvironment; the ovary, uterus and birthing fluids, and (2) the semipermeable interface between cervid mother and fetus throughout pregnancy; the placentome.

Methods: RT-QuIC: A total of 12 replicates/sample of ovary (n=6), uterus (n=6), placentome (n=5-6 placentomes each from n=2 pregnancies) and birthing fluids (n=4) were analyzed. Bioassay: Transgenic mice expressing the cervid prion protein, Tg(CerPrP-E226)5037+/- (n=9/cohort), were IC-inoculated with 30μl 10% homogenate of uterus (n=2), placentome (n=2) or 5-fold concentrated birthing fluids (n=3).

Results: RT-QuIC: PrPC seeding activity was consistently detected in 5/6 ovary, 6/6 uterus, 9/11 placentomes, 2/2 amniotic and 0/2 allantoic fluids. Bioassay: Clinical TSE disease (ataxia, weight loss and stiff tail) was observed in mice inoculated with uterus, placentome and amniotic fluid, but not allantoic fluid between 180-343 day pi while negative control cohorts remained healthy. Bioassay mice were confirmed TSE positive: brain (uterus 7/8, placentome 8/8, amniotic fluid 1/9, allantoic fluid 0/9) and spleen (uterus 7/8, placentome 7/8, amniotic fluid 2/9, allantoic fluid 0/0) by western blot and RT-QuIC.

Conclusions: Here, using a native CWD susceptible host, we have— for the first time— demonstrated infectious prions in the cervid pregnancy microenvironment and placental structure at the fetal-maternal interface. These findings reveal a source of infectious prions that the developing fetus is exposed to long before the birthing process, maternal grooming, or encounter with contaminated environments. Thus suggesting that CWD mother-to-offspring transmission may contribute to the facile transmission of CWD and be underappreciated for all TSEs.


FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018 

Docket No. APHIS-2018-0011 Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program Standards Singeltary Submission March 30, 2018

Terry S. Singeltary Sr., Bacliff, Texas USA 77518 flounder9@verizon..net 

Attachments (1) Docket No. APHIS-2018-0011 Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program Standards Singeltary View Attachment:View as format pdf 



https://www.regulations.gov/docketBrowser?rpp=25&so=DESC&sb=commentDueDate&po=0&dct=PS&D=APHIS-2018-0011


SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2018 

Clinical, pathological, and molecular features of classical and L-type atypical-BSE in goats


WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 

National Scrapie Eradication Program April 2018 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2018



Date: May 4, 2018 at 12:39:00 PM EDT

To: Terry Singeltary <flounder9@verizon.net>

Subject: Mineral licks as environmental reservoirs of chronic wasting disease prions

Mineral licks as environmental reservoirs of chronic wasting disease prions

Ian H. Plummer,Chad J. Johnson,Alexandra R. Chesney,Joel A. Pedersen,Michael D. Samuel 



FRIDAY, JUNE 08, 2018 

Chronic wasting disease management in ranched elk using rectal biopsy testing URGENT UPDATE!




SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2017 

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



TUESDAY, JULY 04, 2017

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



TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

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



Wednesday, May 24, 2017 

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



MAD COW FEED, WHAT ABOUT MAD DEER AND ELK AND PIG AND SHEEP FEED ??? scrapie and cwd transmits to pigs orally...terry


2017 Section 21 C.F.R. 589.2000, Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed

Subject: MICHIGAN FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEED VIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE BREACH APRIL 4, 2017


MICHIGAN FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE BREACH APRIL 4, 2017


FDA BSE/Ruminant Feed Inspections Firms Inventory 


11998 DET-DO MI 48846-847 OPR 4/4/2017 OAI 


http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/BSEInspect/bseinspections.csv 


NAI = NO ACTION INDICATED


OAI = OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED


VAI = VOLUNTARY ACTION INDICATED


RTS = REFERRED TO STATE


OAI (Official Action Indicated) when inspectors find significant objectionable conditions or practices and believe that regulatory sanctions are warranted to address the establishment’s lack of compliance with the regulation. An example of an OAI classification would be findings of manufacturing procedures insufficient to ensure that ruminant feed is not contaminated with prohibited material. Inspectors will promptly re-inspect facilities classified OAI after regulatory sanctions have been applied to determine whether the corrective actions are adequate to address the objectionable conditions...end...TSS


V. Use in animal feed of material from deer and elk NOT considered at high risk for CWD 

FDA continues to consider materials from deer and elk NOT considered at high risk for CWD to be acceptable for use in NON-RUMINANT animal feeds in accordance with current agency regulations, 21 CFR 589.2000. 

Deer and elk not considered at high risk include: 

(1) deer and elk from areas not declared by State officials to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones; and 

(2) deer and elk that were not at some time during the 60-month period immediately before the time of slaughter in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.




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...



TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017 

*** EXTREME USA FDA PART 589 TSE PRION FEED LOOP HOLE STILL EXIST, AND PRICE OF POKER GOES UP ***



TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE 2016 to 2017 BSE TSE PRION



THIS April, 4, 2017 violation of the mad cow 21 CFR 589.2000 OAI is very serious for the great state of Michigan, some 20 years post FDA mad cow feed of August 1997. if would most likely take a FOIA request and a decade of wrangling to find out more. 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE 2016 to 2017 BSE TSE PRION

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE 2016 to 2017 BSE TSE PRION 

I would kindly like to comment on this FDA BSE/Ruminant Feed Inspections Firms Inventory (excel format)4 format, for reporting these breaches of BSE TSE prion protocols, from the extensive mad cow feed ban warning letters the fda use to put out for each violations. simply put, this excel format sucks, and the FDA et al intentionally made it this difficult to follow the usda fda mad cow follies. this is an intentional format to make it as difficult as possible to follow these breaches of the mad cow TSE prion safety feed protocols. to have absolutely no chronological or numerical order, and to format such violations in a way that they are almost impossible to find, says a lot about just how far the FDA and our fine federal friends will go through to hide these continued violations of the BSE TSE prion mad cow feed ban, and any breaches of protocols there from. once again, the wolf guarding the henhouse $$$

NAI = NO ACTION INDICATED

OAI = OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED

VAI = VOLUNTARY ACTION INDICATED

RTS = REFERRED TO STATE

OAI (Official Action Indicated) when inspectors find significant objectionable conditions or practices and believe that regulatory sanctions are warranted to address the establishment’s lack of compliance with the regulation. An example of an OAI classification would be findings of manufacturing procedures insufficient to ensure that ruminant feed is not contaminated with prohibited material. Inspectors will promptly re-inspect facilities classified OAI after regulatory sanctions have been applied to determine whether the corrective actions are adequate to address the objectionable conditions. 

2016


ONE more thing, please remember, the label does not have to say ''deer ration'' for cervid to be pumped up with. you can get the same ''high protein'' from many sources of high protein feed for animals other than cattle, and feed them to cervid...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

FOIA REQUEST FEED RECALL 2009 Product may have contained prohibited materials Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009


Friday, September 4, 2009

FOIA REQUEST ON FEED RECALL PRODUCT 429,128 lbs. feed for ruminant animals may have been contaminated with prohibited material Recall # V-258-2009



FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018 

***> Scrapie Transmits To Pigs By Oral Route

what about the terribly flawed USA tse prion feed ban? 

Research Project: Pathobiology, Genetics, and Detection of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies



TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2018 

***> Chronic wasting disease: Bambi vs. the prion 

Research Project: Immunodiagnostics to Detect Prions and Other Important Animal Pathogens 

Location: Produce Safety and Microbiology Research



ZOONOTIC CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION UPDATE ???

here is the latest;


SEE CZUB CWD TSE Prion Zoonosis to squirrel monkey by oral route to macaque, RACE et al study, and other studies that show that indeed CWD is a increasingly zoonosis risk factor for humans...terry



9:35 Candace Mathiason (Colorado State University): An Overview-Chronic Wasting
Disease mother to offspring transmission studies conducted at Colorado State University.

10:05 Hermann Schätzl/Sandor Dudas (University of Calgary): Oral transmission of CWD
into Cynomolgus macaques: signs of atypical disease, prion conversion and infectivity in
macaques and bio-assayed transgenic mice.

16:30 Jo Moore (USDA, Ames): The agent of chronic wasting disease from pigs is infectious
in transgenic mice expressing human PRNP.




***We have concluded that the human protein has a region that confers unusual susceptibility to conversion by CWD prions. CWD is unique among prion diseases in its rapid spread in natural populations. BSE prions are essentially unaltered upon passage to a new species, while CWD adapts to the new species. This adaptation has consequences for surveillance of humans exposed to CWD. Wildlife Disease Risk Communication Research Contributes to Wildlife Trust Administration Exploring perceptions about chronic wasting disease risks among wildlife and agriculture professionals and stakeholders


CDC CWD 2018 TRANSMISSION


*** 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. 


see more cwd zoonosis risk factors from updated science below...terry

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

CWD TSE Prion Zoonosis to squirrel monkey and macaque


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 





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



9:35 Candace Mathiason (Colorado State University): An Overview-Chronic Wasting
Disease mother to offspring transmission studies conducted at Colorado State University.

10:05 Hermann Schätzl/Sandor Dudas (University of Calgary): Oral transmission of CWD
into Cynomolgus macaques: signs of atypical disease, prion conversion and infectivity in
macaques and bio-assayed transgenic mice.

16:30 Jo Moore (USDA, Ames): The agent of chronic wasting disease from pigs is infectious
in transgenic mice expressing human PRNP.



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 







ZOONOTIC, ZOONOSIS, CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY TSE PRION 

10. ZOONOTIC, ZOONOSIS, CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY TSE PRION AKA MAD DEER ELK DISEASE IN HUMANS, has it already happened, that should be the question... 

''In particular the US data do not clearly exclude the possibility of human (sporadic or familial) TSE development due to consumption of venison. The Working Group thus recognizes a potential risk to consumers if a TSE would be present in European cervids.'' Scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease (II)

EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) Antonia Ricci Ana Allende Declan Bolton Marianne Chemaly Robert Davies Pablo Salvador Fernández Escámez ... See all authors 

First published: 17 January 2018 https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5132 ;

also, see; 

8. Even though human TSE‐exposure risk through consumption of game from European cervids can be assumed to be minor, if at all existing, no final conclusion can be drawn due to the overall lack of scientific data. In particular the US data do not clearly exclude the possibility of human (sporadic or familial) TSE development due to consumption of venison. The Working Group thus recognizes a potential risk to consumers if a TSE would be present in European cervids. It might be prudent considering appropriate measures to reduce such a risk, e.g. excluding tissues such as CNS and lymphoid tissues from the human food chain, which would greatly reduce any potential risk for consumers. However, it is stressed that currently, no data regarding a risk of TSE infections from cervid products are available. 

snip... 

The tissue distribution of infectivity in CWD‐infected cervids is now known to extend beyond CNS and lymphoid tissues. While the removal of these specific tissues from the food chain would reduce human dietary exposure to infectivity, exclusion from the food chain of the whole carcass of any infected animal would be required to eliminate human dietary exposure. 


zoonosis zoonotic cervid tse prion cwd to humans, preparing for the storm 

***An alternative to modeling the species barrier is the cell-free conversion assay which points to CWD as the animal prion disease with the greatest zoonotic potential, after (and very much less than) BSE.116*** 


Volume 2: Science 

4. The link between BSE and vCJD 

Summary 

4.29 The evidence discussed above that vCJD is caused by BSE seems overwhelming. Uncertainties exist about the cause of CJD in farmers, their wives and in several abattoir workers. It seems that farmers at least might be at higher risk than others in the general population. 1 Increased ascertainment (ie, increased identification of cases as a result of greater awareness of the condition) seems unlikely, as other groups exposed to risk, such as butchers and veterinarians, do not appear to have been affected. The CJD in farmers seems to be similar to other sporadic CJD in age of onset, in respect to glycosylation patterns, and in strain-typing in experimental mice. Some farmers are heterozygous for the methionine/valine variant at codon 129, and their lymphoreticular system (LRS) does not contain the high levels of PrPSc found in vCJD. It remains a remote possibility that when older people contract CJD from BSE the resulting phenotype is like sporadic CJD and is distinct from the vCJD phenotype in younger people...BSE INQUIRY

Summary and Recommendation: 

snip...

Health Portfolio partners were recently made aware of initial findings from a research project led by a CFIA scientist that have demonstrated that cynomolgus macaques can be infected via intracranial exposure and oral gavage with CWD infected muscle. 

These findings suggest that CWD, under specific experimental conditions, has the potential to cross the human species barrier, including by enteral feeding of CWD infected muscle. 



*** 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. 

Student Presentations Session 2 

The species barriers and public health threat of CWD and BSE prions 

Ms. Kristen Davenport1, Dr. Davin Henderson1, Dr. Candace Mathiason1, Dr. Edward Hoover1 1Colorado State University 

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is spreading rapidly through cervid populations in the USA. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease) arose in the 1980s because cattle were fed recycled animal protein. 

These and other prion diseases are caused by abnormal folding of the normal prion protein (PrP) into a disease causing form (PrPd), which is pathogenic to nervous system cells and can cause subsequent PrP to misfold. CWD spreads among cervids very efficiently, but it has not yet infected humans. On the other hand, BSE was spread only when cattle consumed infected bovine or ovine tissue, but did infect humans and other species. 

The objective of this research is to understand the role of PrP structure in cross-species infection by CWD and BSE. To study the propensity of each species’ PrP to be induced to misfold by the presence of PrPd from verious species, we have used an in vitro system that permits detection of PrPd in real-time. 

We measured the conversion efficiency of various combinations of PrPd seeds and PrP substrate combinations. 

We observed the cross-species behavior of CWD and BSE, in addition to feline-adapted CWD and BSE. 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. CWD is unique among prion diseases in its rapid spread in natural populations. BSE prions are essentially unaltered upon passage to a new species, while CWD adapts to the new species. This adaptation has consequences for surveillance of humans exposed to CWD. Wildlife Disease Risk Communication Research Contributes to Wildlife Trust Administration Exploring perceptions about chronic wasting disease risks among wildlife and agriculture professionals and stakeholders



CDC CWD 2018 TRANSMISSION


*** 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. 



Transmission Studies

Mule deer transmissions of CWD were by intracerebral inoculation and compared with natural cases {the following was written but with a single line marked through it ''first passage (by this route)}...TSS

resulted in a more rapidly progressive clinical disease with repeated episodes of synocopy ending in coma. One control animal became affected, it is believed through contamination of inoculum (?saline). Further CWD transmissions were carried out by Dick Marsh into ferret, mink and squirrel monkey. Transmission occurred in ALL of these species with the shortest incubation period in the ferret.

snip...




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.


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.



 *** now, let’s see what the authors said about this casual link, personal communications years ago, and then the latest on the zoonotic potential from CWD to humans from the TOKYO PRION 2016 CONFERENCE.

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”


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


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 ;



> 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).*** 






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. 

============== 



***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. 



PRION 2016 TOKYO

Saturday, April 23, 2016

SCRAPIE WS-01: Prion diseases in animals and zoonotic potential 2016

Prion. 10:S15-S21. 2016 ISSN: 1933-6896 printl 1933-690X online

Taylor & Francis

Prion 2016 Animal Prion Disease Workshop Abstracts

WS-01: Prion diseases in animals and zoonotic potential

Juan Maria Torres a, Olivier Andreoletti b, J uan-Carlos Espinosa a. Vincent Beringue c. Patricia Aguilar a,

Natalia Fernandez-Borges a. and Alba Marin-Moreno a

"Centro de Investigacion en Sanidad Animal ( CISA-INIA ). Valdeolmos, Madrid. Spain; b UMR INRA -ENVT 1225 Interactions Holes Agents Pathogenes. ENVT. Toulouse. France: "UR892. Virologie lmmunologie MolécuIaires, Jouy-en-Josas. France

Dietary exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) contaminated bovine tissues is considered as the origin of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob (vCJD) disease in human. To date, BSE agent is the only recognized zoonotic prion. Despite the variety of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) agents that have been circulating for centuries in farmed ruminants there is no apparent epidemiological link between exposure to ruminant products and the occurrence of other form of TSE in human like sporadic Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (sCJD). However, the zoonotic potential of the diversity of circulating TSE agents has never been systematically assessed. The major issue in experimental assessment of TSEs zoonotic potential lies in the modeling of the ‘species barrier‘, the biological phenomenon that limits TSE agents’ propagation from a species to another. In the last decade, mice genetically engineered to express normal forms of the human prion protein has proved essential in studying human prions pathogenesis and modeling the capacity of TSEs to cross the human species barrier.

To assess the zoonotic potential of prions circulating in farmed ruminants, we study their transmission ability in transgenic mice expressing human PrPC (HuPrP-Tg). Two lines of mice expressing different forms of the human PrPC (129Met or 129Val) are used to determine the role of the Met129Val dimorphism in susceptibility/resistance to the different agents.

These transmission experiments confirm the ability of BSE prions to propagate in 129M- HuPrP-Tg mice and demonstrate that Met129 homozygotes may be susceptible to BSE in sheep or goat to a greater degree than the BSE agent in cattle and that these agents can convey molecular properties and neuropathological indistinguishable from vCJD. However homozygous 129V mice are resistant to all tested BSE derived prions independently of the originating species suggesting a higher transmission barrier for 129V-PrP variant.

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. 



why do we not want to do TSE transmission studies on chimpanzees $

5. A positive result from a chimpanzee challenged severly would likely create alarm in some circles even if the result could not be interpreted for man. I have a view that all these agents could be transmitted provided a large enough dose by appropriate routes was given and the animals kept long enough. Until the mechanisms of the species barrier are more clearly understood it might be best to retain that hypothesis.

snip...

R. BRADLEY



Title: Transmission of scrapie prions to primate after an extended silent incubation period) 

*** In complement to the recent demonstration that humanized mice are susceptible to scrapie, we report here the first observation of direct transmission of a natural classical scrapie isolate to a macaque after a 10-year incubation period. Neuropathologic examination revealed all of the features of a prion disease: spongiform change, neuronal loss, and accumulation of PrPres throughout the CNS. 

*** 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. 



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 ***


P.97: Scrapie transmits to white-tailed deer by the oral route and has a molecular profile similar to chronic wasting disease and distinct from the scrapie inoculum

Justin Greenlee1, S JO Moore1, Jodi Smith1, M Heather WestGreenlee2 and Robert Kunkle1

1National Animal Disease Center; Ames, IA USA

2Iowa State University; Ames, IA USA

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 2 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, 2 distinct molecular profiles of PrPSc are present in the tissues of affected deer, and inoculum of either profile readily passes to deer.



*** After a natural route of exposure, 100% of WTD were susceptible to scrapie.

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.



***> CWD TO PIGS <***

Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES

Location: Virus and Prion Research

Title: Disease-associated prion protein detected in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged with the agent of chronic wasting disease

Author item Moore, Sarah item Kunkle, Robert item Kondru, Naveen item Manne, Sireesha item Smith, Jodi item Kanthasamy, Anumantha item West Greenlee, M item Greenlee, Justin

Submitted to: Prion Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2017 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Aims: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a naturally-occurring, fatal neurodegenerative disease of cervids. We previously demonstrated that disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc) can be detected in the brain and retina from pigs challenged intracranially or orally with the CWD agent. In that study, neurological signs consistent with prion disease were observed only in one pig: an intracranially challenged pig that was euthanized at 64 months post-challenge. The purpose of this study was to use an antigen-capture immunoassay (EIA) and real-time quaking-induced conversion (QuIC) to determine whether PrPSc is present in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged with the CWD agent.

Methods: At two months of age, crossbred pigs were challenged by the intracranial route (n=20), oral route (n=19), or were left unchallenged (n=9). At approximately 6 months of age, the time at which commercial pigs reach market weight, half of the pigs in each group were culled (<6 challenge="" groups="" month="" pigs="" remaining="" the="">6 month challenge groups) were allowed to incubate for up to 73 months post challenge (mpc). The retropharyngeal lymph node (RPLN) was screened for the presence of PrPSc by EIA and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The RPLN, palatine tonsil, and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) from 6-7 pigs per challenge group were also tested using EIA and QuIC.

Results: PrPSc was not detected by EIA and IHC in any RPLNs. All tonsils and MLNs were negative by IHC, though the MLN from one pig in the oral <6 5="" 6="" at="" by="" detected="" eia.="" examined="" group="" in="" intracranial="" least="" lymphoid="" month="" months="" of="" one="" pigs="" positive="" prpsc="" quic="" the="" tissues="" was="">6 months group, 5/6 pigs in the oral <6 4="" and="" group="" months="" oral="">6 months group. Overall, the MLN was positive in 14/19 (74%) of samples examined, the RPLN in 8/18 (44%), and the tonsil in 10/25 (40%). Conclusions:

This study demonstrates that PrPSc accumulates in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged intracranially or orally with the CWD agent, and can be detected as early as 4 months after challenge.

CWD-infected pigs rarely develop clinical disease and if they do, they do so after a long incubation period. This raises the possibility that CWD-infected pigs could shed prions into their environment long before they develop clinical disease.

Furthermore, lymphoid tissues from CWD-infected pigs could present a potential source of CWD infectivity in the animal and human food chains.



CONFIDENTIAL

EXPERIMENTAL PORCINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

While this clearly is a cause for concern we should not jump to the conclusion that this means that pigs will necessarily be infected by bone and meat meal fed by the oral route as is the case with cattle. ...


we cannot rule out the possibility that unrecognised subclinical spongiform encephalopathy could be present in British pigs though there is no evidence for this: only with parenteral/implantable pharmaceuticals/devices is the theoretical risk to humans of sufficient concern to consider any action.

 
Our records show that while some use is made of porcine materials in medicinal products, the only products which would appear to be in a hypothetically ''higher risk'' area are the adrenocorticotrophic hormone for which the source material comes from outside the United Kingdom, namely America China Sweden France and Germany. The products are manufactured by Ferring and Armour. A further product, ''Zenoderm Corium implant'' manufactured by Ethicon, makes use of porcine skin - which is not considered to be a ''high risk'' tissue, but one of its uses is described in the data sheet as ''in dural replacement''. This product is sourced from the United Kingdom.....


snip...see much more here ;

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 05, 2017

Disease-associated prion protein detected in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged with the agent of chronic wasting disease


WEDNESDAY, APRIL 05, 2017

*** Disease-associated prion protein detected in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged with the agent of chronic wasting disease ***



cattle are highly susceptible to white-tailed deer CWD and mule deer CWD

***In contrast, cattle are highly susceptible to white-tailed deer CWD and mule deer CWD in experimental conditions but no natural CWD infections in cattle have been reported (Sigurdson, 2008; Hamir et al., 2006). It is not known how susceptible humans are to CWD but given that the prion can be present in muscle, it is likely that humans have been exposed to the agent via consumption of venison (Sigurdson, 2008). Initial experimental research, however, suggests that human susceptibility to CWD is low and there may be a robust species barrier for CWD transmission to humans (Sigurdson, 2008). It is apparent, though, that CWD is affecting wild and farmed cervid populations in endemic areas with some deer populations decreasing as a result.

SNIP...


price of prion poker goes up for cwd to cattle;

Monday, April 04, 2016

*** Limited amplification of chronic wasting disease prions in the peripheral tissues of intracerebrally inoculated cattle ***


 TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018 

CATTLE (BOS TAURUS) RESIST CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE FOLLOWING ORAL INOCULATION CHALLENGE OR TEN YEARS’ NATURAL EXPOSURE IN CONTAMINATED ENVIRONMENTS?

this is a different study than that of the Canadian Czub et al study...see my comments here;



THURSDAY, MARCH 08, 2018 

Cervid, Wild Hogs, Coyotes, Wolves, Cats, Rodents, Gut Piles and Scavengers, A Potential Risk as Regards Disease Transmission CWD TSE Prion



Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

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