Chronic wasting disease as a part of animal spongiform encephalopathies

• Published in: Veterinarska stanica
• Main Authors: Branović Čakanić, Karmen, Kolačko, Ivana, Naletilić, Šimun, Mihaljević, Željko, Miškić, Tihana, Šoštarić, Branko, Novosel, Dinko
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Croatian veterinary institute 1482
• Subjects: Prion; Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE); Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD); Transmisivne spongiformne encefalopatije (TSE); Spongiformna encefalopatija jelena (SEJ); Alces alces; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/316659; https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/457607

Chronic wasting disease belongs to a group of infectious diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The disease has been found in the Cervidae family, specifically mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), elk (Cervus canadensis), moose (Alces alces), and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Unlike bovine spongiform encephalopathy and other animal transmissible encephalopathies, except scrapie, chronic wasting disease is a contagious prion disease that to our present knowledge affects only members of the Cervidae family. The causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies originates from the host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrPC), which is misfolded into a pathogenic conformer and was referred to as the abnormal prion of scrapie (PrPSc). Chronic wasting disease is the only prion disease to affect wild animals. The disease was first detected in Colorado (USA) in the late 1960s. Since 2024, chronic wasting disease has been diagnosed in at least 32 states in the United States and four provinces in Canada. In addition to North America, chronic wasting disease-infected elk have also been confirmed on ranches in South Korea. In terms of zoonotic potential, bovine spongiform encephalopathy is only prion disease in animals confirmed to be zoonotic, and numerous studies have yielded no conclusive evidence of the zoonotic potential of chronic wasting disease. However, to protect public health, further research on aspects of the disease is necessary. Chronic wasting disease first appeared in Europe in 2016, and the first case was in a reindeer in southern Norway. This was also the first evidence of natural infection with chronic wasting disease in reindeer. Very soon after, the second case was described in moose. It was confirmed that the European strain differed from the US strain, and that the strains of the two cases in Europe also differed. The European Union has since implemented Decision (EU) 2016/1918 on certain protection ...