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Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
Published on: November 6, 2013
Interspecies transmission of chronic wasting disease prions to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus)
Richard F Marsh1, Anthony E Kincaid, Richard A Bessen
1Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, USA.
Abstract:
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging prion disease of deer and elk. The risk of CWD transmission to humans following exposure to CWD-infected tissues is unknown. To assess the susceptibility of nonhuman primates to CWD, two squirrel monkeys were inoculated with brain tissue from a CWD-infected mule deer. The CWD-inoculated squirrel monkeys developed a progressive neurodegenerative disease and were euthanized at 31 and 34 months postinfection. Brain tissue from the CWD-infected squirrel monkeys contained the abnormal isoform of the prion protein, PrP-res, and displayed spongiform degeneration. This is the first reported transmission of CWD to primates.
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