title: Prion infectivity in fat of deer with chronic wasting disease.
abstract: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a neurodegenerative prion disease of cervids. Some animal prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can infect humans; however, human susceptibility to CWD is unknown. In ruminants, prion infectivity is found in central nervous system and lymphoid tissues, with smaller amounts in intestine and muscle. 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.
authors: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA.
authors: Brent
authors: B
authors: Race
authors: Kimberly
authors: K
authors: Meade-White
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Race
authors: Bruce
authors: B
authors: Chesebro
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003670:Deer; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D012418:Ruminants; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D034081:Wasting Disease, Chronic / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission*