Chronic wasting disease agents in nonhuman primates.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Race B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4012792 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurodegenerative prion disease of cervid species including deer, elk, moose and reindeer. The disease has shown both geographic and species expansion since its discovery in the late 1960's and is now recognized in captive and free-ranging cervid populations in North America, Asia and Europe. The facile transmission of CWD is unique among prion diseases and has resulted in growing concern for cervid populations and human public health. The development of native cervid host models with longitudinal monitoring has revealed new insights about CWD pathogenesis and transmission dynamics. More than 20 years of experimental studies conducted in these models, using biologically relevant routes of infection, have led to better understanding of many aspect of CWD infections. This review addresses some of these insights, including: (i) the temporal intra-host trafficking of CWD prions in tissues and bodily fluids, (ii) the presence of infectivity shed in bodily excretions that may help explain the facile transmission of CWD, (iii) mother-to-offspring CWD transmission, (iv) the influence of some Prnp polymorphisms on CWD susceptibility, and (vi) continued development of vaccine strategies to mitigate CWD.
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Project description:Abstract The European Commission requested an analysis of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) monitoring programme in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (9 January 2017–28 February 2022). Thirteen cases were detected in reindeer, 15 in moose and 3 in red deer. They showed two phenotypes, distinguished by the presence or absence of detectable disease‐associated normal cellular prion protein (PrP) in lymphoreticular tissues. CWD was detected for the first time in Finland, Sweden and in other areas of Norway. In countries where the disease was not detected, the evidence was insufficient to rule out its presence altogether. Where cases were detected, the prevalence was below 1%. The data also suggest that the high‐risk target groups for surveillance should be revised, and ‘road kill’ removed. Data show that, in addition to differences in age and sex, there are differences in the prion protein gene (PRNP) genotypes between positive and negative wild reindeer. A stepwise framework has been proposed with expanded minimum background surveillance to be implemented in European countries with relevant cervid species. Additional surveillance may include ad hoc surveys for four different objectives, specific to countries with/without cases, focusing on parallel testing of obex and lymph nodes from adult cervids in high‐risk target groups, sustained over time, using sampling units and a data‐driven design prevalence. Criteria for assessing the probability of CWD presence have been outlined, based on the definition of the geographical area, an annual assessment of risk of introduction, sustained minimum background surveillance, training and engagement of stakeholders and a surveillance programme based on data‐driven parameters. All positive cases should be genotyped. Sample sizes for negative samples have been proposed to detect and estimate the frequency of PRNP polymorphisms. Double‐strand sequencing of the entire PRNP open reading frame should be undertaken for all selected samples, with data collated in a centralised collection system at EU level.
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