Occurrence, Transmission, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease

• Main Authors: Samuel E. Saunders, Shannon L. Bartelt-hunt, Jason C. Bartz
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alces alces
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.306.9142; http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/pdfs/11-0685.pdf

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, transmissible prion disease that affects captive and free-ranging deer, elk, and moose. Although the zoonotic potential of CWD is considered low, identifi cation of multiple CWD strains and the potential for agent evolution upon serial passage hinders a defi nitive conclusion. Surveillance for CWD in free-ranging populations has documented a continual geographic spread of the disease throughout North America. CWD prions are shed from clinically and preclinically affected hosts, and CWD transmission is mediated at least in part by the environment, perhaps by soil. Much remains unknown, including the sites and mechanisms of prion uptake in the naive host. There are no therapeutics or effective eradication measures for CWD-endemic populations. Continued surveillance and research of CWD and its effects on cervid ecosystems is vital for controlling the long-term consequences of this emerging disease. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an inevitably fatal, infectious neurodegenerative prion disease naturally affecting North American mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (wapiti, Cervus canadensis), and moose (Alces alces) (1,2). Other prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans (3). CWD was identified in the late 1960s and recognized as a spongiform encephalopathy by Williams in 1980 (1). Clinical signs of CWD include weight loss and behavioral changes such as altered stance, pacing