Voluntary Scrapie Program USA UPDATE July 26, 2013 increase in FY 2013 is not statistically meaningful due to the sample size
Greetings BSE-L members et al,
“The increase in FY 2013 is not statistically meaningful due to the sample size.”
same thing happened with mad cow disease. they increased the sample size, found it, scared the hell out of them because of all the atypicals, and immediately shut it down, back to OIE numbers, where you cannot find a TSE prion disease. what a bunch of hypocrites, and what a joke. all of them.
I suppose the high number of goat cases in California and Michigan, and the two meat-type twin goats residing in the same herd that tested positive, both that were submitted as clinical suspects, I guess that’s just another happenstance of bad luck, another spontaneous event, ...really? I have been trying to bring awareness to the increase in numbers of goat scrapie cases in certain areas for years now from different potential sources, to no avail. how many of them might be BSE? as the USDA inc, the OIE inc, CFIA inc, all try to make typical scrapie a legal trading commodity (they have already done this with the atypical scrapie, a very foolish move, one that risk both humans and animals around the globe to the TSE mad cow type agent). this voluntary scrapie program will not work, in my opinion, the USDA, OIE, CFIA, know this, so the next best thing is just to force feed all of us around the globe the TSE prion mad cow type agent by exempting it all $$$ it’s all gonna catch up sooner or later. just my take. ...
Prepared July 15, 2013
United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service Veterinary Services National Center for Animal Health Programs Ruminant
Health Programs
June 2013 Monthly Report
Fiscal Year 2013
National Scrapie Eradication Program
snip...
Surveillance (Part 1)
Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS)
RSSS started April 1, 2003. It is a targeted slaughter surveillance program
which is designed to identify infected flocks. Samples have been collected from
385,849 animals since April 1, 2003. There have been 467 NVSL confirmed positive
animals (459 classical cases and 8 Nor98-like cases) since the beginning of
RSSS. As of June 30, 2013, 31,165 samples have been collected in FY 2013, 4,797
of which were from goats. Five black-faced sheep and one white-faced sheep have
tested positive for scrapie in FY 2013. The percentage of samples that have
tested positive for each face color from FY 2003 through FY 2013 is depicted in
Chart 3. Cumulative regional sample collection numbers are shown in Chart 4 and
are based upon the State in which the animal was tagged. The number of animals
collected for FY 2013 by month and by region where collected is shown in Chart
5. A monthly comparison of RSSS collections by fiscal year is displayed in Chart
6. Chart 7 is a retrospective 6-month rolling average of the percent positive,
black-faced sheep sampled at RSSS collection sites.
*RSSS positives are reported based on collection date and may have been
confirmed after June 30, 2013.
Surveillance (Part 2)
On-Farm Surveillance
Testing of animals in the field has always been part of scrapie
surveillance (regulatory field cases
and live-animal testing). As the National Scrapie Eradication Program moves
closer towards meeting the goal of identifying the last remaining cases of
classical scrapie by 2017, finding and testing all sheep and goats meeting
targeted sampling criteria is even more important. As of June 30, 2013, 876
sheep and 383 goats have been tested on-farm for FY 2013. Through trace-forward
investigations, one black-faced sheep has tested positive in FY 2013. Two
meat-type twin goats residing in the same herd have tested positive; both were
submitted as clinical suspects. The number of animals tested on-farm by month
and by species for FY 2013 is shown in Chart 8.
Total Animals Sampled for Scrapie Testing
As of June 30, 2013, 32,424 animals have been sampled for scrapie testing:
31,165 RSSS samples and 1,259 on-farm samples [includes regulatory testing
(necropsy and live-animal) and on-farm surveillance] (Chart 9). Distribution of
sampling by type (RSSS or on-farm) and by species is shown in Chart 10.
Positive Cases and New Infected/Source Flocks
Positive Scrapie Cases
Nine positive cases, six RSSS and three On-farm, have been reported in
FY2013* (Table 1 and
Figure 1).
The number of confirmed positive cases in goats since FY 2002 is 33; the
most recent case was reported in April 2013 and was from the same herd as the
case reported in March (Figure 2).
Infected and Source Flocks
As of June 30, 2013, there were seven flocks with an open infected or
source status
(Figure 3). Four new source flocks and four new infected flocks have been
designated in 2013 (Figure 4). Four flocks completed a clean-up plan and were
released (Figure 5). The ratio of infected and source flocks released to newly
identified infected and source flocks for FY 2013 = 1 : 2. New infected and
source statuses from FY 1997 to FY 2013 are depicted in Chart 2.
* Samples collected between October 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 and confirmed
by July 15, 2013.
Scrapie Confirmed Cases in FY 2013 As of June 30, 2013
STATE SHEEP GOATS
RSSS On-Farm RSSS On-Farm
IA 1 0 0 0
IL 1 1 0 0
OH 2 0 0 0
OK 1 0 0 0
MD 0 0 0 2
PA 1 0 0 0
TOTAL
ALL STATES
6 1 0 2
========================
Scrapie Cases in Goats FY 2002 – FY 2013 As of June 30, 2013
WA 1
CA 13
CO 3
IL 1
MI 8
OH 5
MD 2
(Figure 2)
Type of Scrapie RSSS Cases Field Cases Total
Classical 0 33 33
(Nor98-like) (0) (0) (0)
Total 0 33 33
* Most recent positive goat confirmed in April 2013.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
atypical Nor-98 Scrapie has spread from coast to coast in the USA 2012
NIAA Annual Conference April 11-14, 2011San Antonio, Texas
***SCRAPIE GOATS CALIFORNIA 13 CASES TO DATE ! ***
***SCRAPIE GOATS MICHIGAN 8 CASES TO DATE ! ***
(an unusually high amount of scrapie documented in goats for a happenstance
of bad luck, or spontaneous event, THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN IN OTHER STATES ??? )
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Characterisation of an Unusual TSE in a Goat by Transmission in Knock-in
Transgenic Mice
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Susceptibility of young sheep to oral infection with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy decreases significantly after weaning
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
BSE IN GOATS CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR SCRAPIE
February 1, 2012
Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 17, No. 5, May
2011
Experimental Oral Transmission of Atypical Scrapie to Sheep
Marion M. Simmons, S. Jo Moore,1 Timm Konold, Lisa Thurston, Linda A.
Terry, Leigh Thorne, Richard Lockey, Chris Vickery, Stephen A.C. Hawkins,
Melanie J. Chaplin, and John Spiropoulos
To investigate the possibility of oral transmission of atypical scrapie in
sheep and determine the distribution of infectivity in the animals’ peripheral
tissues, we challenged neonatal lambs orally with atypical scrapie; they were
then killed at 12 or 24 months. Screening test results were negative for
disease-specifi c prion protein in all but 2 recipients; they had positive
results for examination of brain, but negative for peripheral tissues.
Infectivity of brain, distal ileum, and spleen from all animals was assessed in
mouse bioassays; positive results were obtained from tissues that had negative
results on screening. These fi ndings demonstrate that atypical scrapie can be
transmitted orally and indicate that it has the potential for natural
transmission and iatrogenic spread through animal feed. Detection of infectivity
in tissues negative by current surveillance methods indicates that diagnostic
sensitivity is suboptimal for atypical scrapie, and potentially infectious
material may be able to pass into the human food chain.
SNIP...
Although we do not have epidemiologic evidence that supports the effi cient
spread of disease in the fi eld, these data imply that disease is potentially
transmissible under fi eld situations and that spread through animal feed may be
possible if the current feed restrictions were to be relaxed. Additionally,
almost no data are available on the potential for atypical scrapie to transmit
to other food animal species, certainly by the oral route. However, work with
transgenic mice has demonstrated the potential susceptibility of pigs, with the
disturbing fi nding that the biochemical properties of the resulting PrPSc have
changed on transmission (40). The implications of this observation for
subsequent transmission and host target range are currently unknown.
How reassuring is this absence of detectable PrPSc from a public health
perspective? The bioassays performed in this study are not titrations, so the
infectious load of the positive gut tissues cannot be quantifi ed, although
infectivity has been shown unequivocally. No experimental data are currently
available on the zoonotic potential of atypical scrapie, either through
experimental challenge of humanized mice or any meaningful epidemiologic
correlation with human forms of TSE. However, the detection of infectivity in
the distal ileum of animals as young as 12 months, in which all the tissues
tested were negative for PrPSc by the currently available screening and confi
rmatory diagnostic tests, indicates that the diagnostic sensitivity of current
surveillance methods is suboptimal for detecting atypical scrapie and that
potentially infectious material may be able to pass into the human food chain
undetected.
Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 17, No. 5, May 2011
why do we not want to do TSE transmission studies on chimpanzees $
snip...
5. A positive result from a chimpanzee challenged severly would likely
create alarm in some circles even if the result could not be interpreted for
man. I have a view that all these agents could be transmitted provided a large
enough dose by appropriate routes was given and the animals kept long enough.
Until the mechanisms of the species barrier are more clearly understood it might
be best to retain that hypothesis.
snip...
R. BRADLEY
1: J Infect Dis 1980 Aug;142(2):205-8
Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to nonhuman primates.
Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.
Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months, respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.
snip...
The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
PMID: 6997404
Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to nonhuman primates.
Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.
Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months, respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.
snip...
The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
PMID: 6997404
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6997404&dopt=Abstract
Recently the question has again been brought up as to whether scrapie is transmissible to man. This has followed reports that the disease has been transmitted to primates. One particularly lurid speculation (Gajdusek 1977) conjectures that the agents of scrapie, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and transmissible encephalopathy of mink are varieties of a single "virus". The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that it could "no longer justify or permit scrapie-blood line and scrapie-exposed sheep and goats to be processed for human or animal food at slaughter or rendering plants" (ARC 84/77)" The problem is emphasised by the finding that some strains of scrapie produce lesions identical to the once which characterise the human dementias"
Whether true or not. the hypothesis that these agents might be transmissible to man raises two considerations. First, the safety of laboratory personnel requires prompt attention. Second, action such as the "scorched meat" policy of USDA makes the solution of the acrapie problem urgent if the sheep industry is not to suffer grievously.
snip...
76/10.12/4.6
http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223125/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1976/10/12004001.pdf
Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.
Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).
Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC.
Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0
Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)
C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK
National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia, tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L. Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).
http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2010/04/scrapie-and-atypical-scrapie.html
Suspect symptoms
What if you can catch old-fashioned CJD by eating meat from a sheep infected with scrapie?
28 Mar 01
Like lambs to the slaughter 31 March 2001 by Debora MacKenzie Magazine issue 2284. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. FOUR years ago, Terry Singeltary watched his mother die horribly from a degenerative brain disease. Doctors told him it was Alzheimer's, but Singeltary was suspicious. The diagnosis didn't fit her violent symptoms, and he demanded an autopsy. It showed she had died of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Most doctors believe that sCJD is caused by a prion protein deforming by chance into a killer. But Singeltary thinks otherwise. He is one of a number of campaigners who say that some sCJD, like the variant CJD related to BSE, is caused by eating meat from infected animals. Their suspicions have focused on sheep carrying scrapie, a BSE-like disease that is widespread in flocks across Europe and North America.
Now scientists in France have stumbled across new evidence that adds weight to the campaigners' fears. To their complete surprise, the researchers found that one strain of scrapie causes the same brain damage in mice as sCJD.
"This means we cannot rule out that at least some sCJD may be caused by some strains of scrapie," says team member Jean-Philippe Deslys of the French Atomic Energy Commission's medical research laboratory in Fontenay-aux-Roses, south-west of Paris. Hans Kretschmar of the University of Göttingen, who coordinates CJD surveillance in Germany, is so concerned by the findings that he now wants to trawl back through past sCJD cases to see if any might have been caused by eating infected mutton or lamb.
Scrapie has been around for centuries and until now there has been no evidence that it poses a risk to human health. But if the French finding means that scrapie can cause sCJD in people, countries around the world may have overlooked a CJD crisis to rival that caused by BSE.
Deslys and colleagues were originally studying vCJD, not sCJD. They injected the brains of macaque monkeys with brain from BSE cattle, and from French and British vCJD patients. The brain damage and clinical symptoms in the monkeys were the same for all three. Mice injected with the original sets of brain tissue or with infected monkey brain also developed the same symptoms.
As a control experiment, the team also injected mice with brain tissue from people and animals with other prion diseases: a French case of sCJD; a French patient who caught sCJD from human-derived growth hormone; sheep with a French strain of scrapie; and mice carrying a prion derived from an American scrapie strain. As expected, they all affected the brain in a different way from BSE and vCJD. But while the American strain of scrapie caused different damage from sCJD, the French strain produced exactly the same pathology.
"The main evidence that scrapie does not affect humans has been epidemiology," says Moira Bruce of the neuropathogenesis unit of the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh, who was a member of the same team as Deslys. "You see about the same incidence of the disease everywhere, whether or not there are many sheep, and in countries such as New Zealand with no scrapie." In the only previous comparisons of sCJD and scrapie in mice, Bruce found they were dissimilar.
But there are more than 20 strains of scrapie, and six of sCJD. "You would not necessarily see a relationship between the two with epidemiology if only some strains affect only some people," says Deslys. Bruce is cautious about the mouse results, but agrees they require further investigation. Other trials of scrapie and sCJD in mice, she says, are in progress.
People can have three different genetic variations of the human prion protein, and each type of protein can fold up two different ways. Kretschmar has found that these six combinations correspond to six clinical types of sCJD: each type of normal prion produces a particular pathology when it spontaneously deforms to produce sCJD.
But if these proteins deform because of infection with a disease-causing prion, the relationship between pathology and prion type should be different, as it is in vCJD. "If we look at brain samples from sporadic CJD cases and find some that do not fit the pattern," says Kretschmar, "that could mean they were caused by infection."
There are 250 deaths per year from sCJD in the US, and a similar incidence elsewhere. Singeltary and other US activists think that some of these people died after eating contaminated meat or "nutritional" pills containing dried animal brain. Governments will have a hard time facing activists like Singeltary if it turns out that some sCJD isn't as spontaneous as doctors have insisted.
Deslys's work on macaques also provides further proof that the human disease vCJD is caused by BSE. And the experiments showed that vCJD is much more virulent to primates than BSE, even when injected into the bloodstream rather than the brain. This, says Deslys, means that there is an even bigger risk than we thought that vCJD can be passed from one patient to another through contaminated blood transfusions and surgical instruments.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922840.300-like-lambs-to-the-slaughter.html
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
IN CONFIDENCE
SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION TO CHIMPANZEES
IN CONFIDENCE
Sunday, December 12, 2010
EFSA reviews BSE/TSE infectivity in small ruminant tissues News Story 2
December 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Isolation of Prion with BSE Properties from Farmed Goat Volume 17, Number
12—December 2011
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Scrapie, Nor-98 atypical Scrapie, and BSE in sheep and goats North America,
who's looking ?
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Sparse PrP-Sc accumulation in the placentas of goats with naturally
acquired scrapie
Research article
Thursday, June 2, 2011
USDA scrapie report for April 2011 NEW ATYPICAL NOR-98 SCRAPIE CASES
Pennsylvania AND California
UPDATE PLEASE NOTE ;
AS of June 30, 2011,
snip...
INCLUDING 10 POSITIVE GOATS FROM THE SAME HERD (FIGURE 7).
snip...
see updated APHIS scrapie report ;
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Sparse PrP-Sc accumulation in the placentas of goats with naturally
acquired scrapie
Research article
snip...
Date: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:03 PM
To: Mr Terry Singeltary
Subject: Your comment on BMC Veterinary Research 2011, 7:7
Dear Mr Singeltary
Thank you for contributing to the discussion of BMC Veterinary Research
2011, 7:7 .
Your comment will be posted within 2 working days, as long as it
contributes to the topic under discussion and does not breach patients'
confidentiality or libel anyone. You will receive a further notification by
email when the posting appears on the site or if it is rejected by the
moderator.
Your posting will read:
Mr Terry Singeltary,
retired
Scrapie cases Goats from same herd USA Michigan
Comment: " In spite of the poorly defined effects of PRNP genetics, scrapie
strain, dose, route and source of infection, the caprine placenta may represent
a source of infection to progeny and herd mates as well as a source of
persistent environmental contamination. "
Could this route of infection be the cause of the many cases of Goat
scrapie from the same herd in Michigan USA ?
Has this been investigated ?
(Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the
same herd in Michigan. This is highly unusual for goats, and I strenuously urge
that there should be an independent investigation into finding the common
denominator for these 5 goats in the same herd in Michigan with Scrapie. ...
Kind Regards, Terry
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Scrapie and Nor-98 Scrapie November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010
and FISCAL YEAR 2008
In FY 2010, 72 cases of classical Scrapie and 5 cases of Nor-98 like
Scrapie were confirmed...
Scrapie Nor-98 like case in California FY 2011 AS of December 31,
2010.
Scrapie cases in goats FY 2002 - 2011 AS of December 31, 2010 Total goat
cases = 21 Scrapie cases, 0 Nor-98 like Scrapie cases (21 field cases, 0 RSSS
cases)
Last herd with infected goats disignated in FY 2008 Michigan 8 cases
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Sparse PrP-Sc accumulation in the placentas of goats with naturally
acquired scrapie
Research article
"In spite of the poorly defined effects of PRNP genetics, scrapie strain,
dose, route and source of infection, the caprine placenta may represent a source
of infection to progeny and herd mates as well as a source of persistent
environmental contamination."
Could this route of infection be the cause of the many cases of Goat
scrapie from the same herd in Michigan USA ?
Has this been investigated ?
(Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the
same herd in Michigan. This is highly unusual for goats, and I strenuously urge
that there should be an independent investigation into finding the common
denominator for these 5 goats in the same herd in Michigan with Scrapie.
...
Kind Regards, Terry
SNIP...
Scrapie Nor-98 like case in California FY 2011 AS of December 31,
2010.
Scrapie cases in goats FY 2002 - 2011 AS of December 31, 2010 Total goat
cases = 21 Scrapie cases, 0 Nor-98 like Scrapie cases (21 field cases, 0 RSSS
cases)
Last herd with infected goats disignated in FY 2008 Michigan 8 cases
UPDATED RESPONSE ON MY CONCERNS OF GOAT SCRAPIE IN MICHIGAN ;
----- Original Message -----
From: "BioMed Central Comments"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 4:13 AM
Subject: Your comment on BMC Veterinary Research 2011, 7:7
Your discussion posting "Scrapie cases Goats from same herd USA Michigan"
has been rejected by the moderator as not being appropriate for inclusion on the
site.
Dear Mr Singeltary,
Thank you for submitting your comment on BMC Veterinary Research article
(2011, 7:7). We have read your comment with interest but we feel that only the
authors of the article can answer your question about further investigation of
the route of infection of the five goats in Michigan. We advise that you contact
the authors directly rather than post a comment on the article.
With best wishes,
Maria
Maria Kowalczuk, PhD Deputy Biology Editor BMC-series Journals
BioMed Central 236 Gray's Inn Road London, WC1X 8HB
+44 20 3192 2000 (tel) +44 20 3192 2010 (fax)
W: www.biomedcentral.com E: Maria.Kowalczuk@biomedcentral.com
Any queries about this decision should be sent to
comments@biomedcentral.com
Regards
BMC Veterinary Research
SNIP...PLEASE SEE FULL TEXT ;
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Sparse PrP-Sc accumulation in the placentas of goats with naturally
acquired scrapie
Research article
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Transmission of classical scrapie via goat milk
Veterinary Record2013;172:455 doi:10.1136/vr.f2613
Friday, May 10, 2013
Evidence of effective scrapie transmission via colostrum and milk in
sheep
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Increased susceptibility of human-PrP transgenic mice to bovine spongiform
encephalopathy following passage in sheep
Monday, November 30, 2009
USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH
CODE
Thursday, December 20, 2012
OIE GROUP RECOMMENDS THAT SCRAPE PRION DISEASE BE DELISTED AND SAME OLD BSe
WITH BOVINE MAD COW DISEASE
*** The discovery of previously unrecognized prion diseases in both humans
and animals (i.e., Nor98 in small ruminants) demonstrates that the range of
prion diseases might be wider than expected and raises crucial questions about
the epidemiology and strain properties of these new forms. We are investigating
this latter issue by molecular and biological comparison of VPSPr, GSS and
Nor98.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has upgraded the United States' risk classification for mad cow disease to "negligible" from "controlled", and risk further exposing the globe to the TSE prion mad cow type disease
U.S. gets top mad-cow rating from international group and risk further exposing the globe to the TSE prion mad cow type disease
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has upgraded the United States' risk classification for mad cow disease to "negligible" from "controlled", and risk further exposing the globe to the TSE prion mad cow type disease
U.S. gets top mad-cow rating from international group and risk further exposing the globe to the TSE prion mad cow type disease
Monday, June 3, 2013
Unsuccessful oral transmission of scrapie from British sheep to cattle
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2013/06/unsuccessful-oral-transmission-of.html
DEEP THROAT TO TSS 2000-2001 (take these old snips of emails with how ever many grains of salt you wish. ...tss)
The most frightening thing I have read all day is the report of Gambetti's finding of a new strain of sporadic cjd in young people...Dear God, what in the name of all that is holy is that!!! If the US has different strains of scrapie.....why???? than the UK...then would the same mechanisms that make different strains of scrapie here make different strains of BSE...if the patterns are different in sheep and mice for scrapie.....could not the BSE be different in the cattle, in the mink, in the humans.......I really think the slides or tissues and everything from these young people with the new strain of sporadic cjd should be put up to be analyzed by many, many experts in cjd........bse.....scrapie Scrape the damn slide and put it into mice.....wait.....chop up the mouse brain and and spinal cord........put into some more mice.....dammit amplify the thing and start the damned research.....This is NOT rocket science...we need to use what we know and get off our butts and move....the whining about how long everything takes.....well it takes a whole lot longer if you whine for a year and then start the research!!!
Not sure where I read this but it was a recent press release or something like that: I thought I would fall out of my chair when I read about how there was no worry about infectivity from a histopath slide or tissues because they are preserved in formic acid, or formalin or formaldehyde.....for God's sake........ Ask any pathologist in the UK what the brain tissues in the formalin looks like after a year.......it is a big fat sponge...the agent continues to eat the brain ......you can't make slides anymore because the agent has never stopped........and the old slides that are stained with Hemolysin and Eosin......they get holier and holier and degenerate and continue...what you looked at 6 months ago is not there........Gambetti better be photographing every damned thing he is looking at.....
Okay, you need to know. You don't need to pass it on as nothing will come of it and there is not a damned thing anyone can do about it. Don't even hint at it as it will be denied and laughed at.......... USDA is gonna do as little as possible until there is actually a human case in the USA of the nvcjd........if you want to move this thing along and shake the earth....then we gotta get the victims families to make sure whoever is doing the autopsy is credible, trustworthy, and a saint with the courage of Joan of Arc........I am not kidding!!!! so, unless we get a human death from EXACTLY the same form with EXACTLY the same histopath lesions as seen in the UK nvcjd........forget any action........it is ALL gonna be sporadic!!!
And, if there is a case.......there is gonna be every effort to link it to international travel, international food, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. They will go so far as to find out if a sex partner had ever traveled to the UK/europe, etc. etc. .... It is gonna be a long, lonely, dangerous twisted journey to the truth. They have all the cards, all the money, and are willing to threaten and carry out those threats....and this may be their biggest downfall...
Thanks as always for your help. (Recently had a very startling revelation from a rather senior person in government here..........knocked me out of my chair........you must keep pushing. If I was a power person....I would be demanding that there be a least a million bovine tested as soon as possible and agressively seeking this disease. The big players are coming out of the woodwork as there is money to be made!!! In short: "FIRE AT WILL"!!! for the very dumb....who's "will"! "Will be the burden to bare if there is any coverup!"
again it was said years ago and it should be taken seriously....BSE will NEVER be found in the US! As for the BSE conference call...I think you did a great service to freedom of information and making some people feign integrity...I find it scary to see that most of the "experts" are employed by the federal government or are supported on the "teat" of federal funds. A scary picture! I hope there is a confidential panel organized by the new government to really investigate this thing.
You need to watch your back........but keep picking at them.......like a buzzard to the bone...you just may get to the truth!!! (You probably have more support than you know. Too many people are afraid to show you or let anyone else know. I have heard a few things myself... you ask the questions that everyone else is too afraid to ask.)
END...TSS
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Small Ruminant Nor98 Prions Share Biochemical Features with Human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease and Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy
Research Article
Friday, July 19, 2013
PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEED Revised
as of April 1, 2013 50# Regular Chicken Feed was found to contain mammalian
protein label does not contain the warning statement
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Meat Country Of Origin Labels: Trade Groups Sue USDA
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
APHIS USDA Administrator Message to Stakeholders: Agency Vision and Goals
Eliminating ALL remaining BSE barriers to export market
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Welsh Government and Food Standards Agency Wales Joint Public Consultation
on the Proposed Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Wales) Regulations
2013 Singeltary Submission WG18417
From: TSS (216-119-139-126.ipset19.wt.net)
Subject: Re: CWD SAMPLING TEXAS (but NOT in the obvious place, the NM, TEXAS border)
Date: December 16, 2003 at 11:03 am PST
In Reply to: Re: CWD SAMPLING TEXAS (but NOT in the obvious place, the NM, TEXAS border) posted by Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD on December 15, 2003 at 3:43 pm:
HEllo Dr. Waldrup,
thank you for your comments and time to come to this board.
Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD states;
> it is painfully obvious that you do not know or understand the natural distribution of mule deer out there or the rights of the land owners in this state...
TSS states;
I am concerned about all deer/elk not just mule deer, and the rights of land owners (in the case with human/animal TSEs) well i am not sure of the correct terminology, but when the States deer/elk/cattle/sheep/humans are at risk, there should be no rights for land owners in this case. the state should have the right to test those animals. there are too many folks out there that are just plain ignorant about this agent. with an agent such as this, you cannot let landowners (and i am one) dictate human/animal health, especially when you cannot regulate the movement of such animals...
Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD states;
> Deer and elk from the Guadalupe Peak National Park cannot be collected with federal permission.
TSS states;
I do not understand this? so there is no recourse of action even if every deer/elk was contaminated with CWD in this area (hypothetical)?
Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD states;
> I am concerned about your insinuation that CWD is a human health risk. We are at a stand-off - you have no proof that it is and I have no definitive proof that it isn't. However I would say that the inferred evidence from Colorado, Wyoming and Wisconsin suggests that CWD is not a human health concern (i.e. no evidence of an increased incidence of human brain disorders within the CWD "endemic" areas of these states)...
TSS states;
NEXT, let's have a look at the overall distribution of CWD in Free-Ranging Cervids and see where the CWD cluster in NM WSMR borders TEXAS;
Current Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease in Free-Ranging Cervids http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/cwd-distribution.html
NOW, the MAP of the Exoregion where the samples were taken to test for CWD;
CWD SURVEILLANCE SAMPLE SUBMISSIONS TEXAS
http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/diseases/cwd/CWD2003.gif
Ecoregions of TEXAS http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/images/tx-eco95.gif
IF you look at the area around the NM WSMR where the CWD cluster was and where it borders TEXAS, that ecoregion is called Trans Pecos region. Seems if my Geography and my Ciphering is correct ;-) that region only tested 55% of it's goal. THE most important area on the MAP and they only test some 96 samples, this in an area that has found some 7 positive animals? NOW if we look at the only other border where these deer from NM could cross the border into TEXAS, this area is called the High Plains ecoregion, and again, we find that the sampling for CWD was pathetic. HERE we find that only 9% of it's goal of CWD sampling was met, only 16 samples were tested from some 175 that were suppose to be sampled.
AS i said before;
> SADLY, they have not tested enough from the total population to
> know if CWD is in Texas or not.
BUT now, I will go one step further and state categorically that they are not trying to find it. just the opposite it seems, they are waiting for CWD to find them, as with BSE/TSE in cattle, and it will eventually...
snip...end...TSS
Monday, February 11, 2013
TEXAS CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD Four New Positives Found in Trans Pecos
pens, pens, PENS ???
*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep.
*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep.
now, decades later ;
2012
PO-039: A comparison of scrapie and chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer
Justin Greenlee, Jodi Smith, Eric Nicholson US Dept. Agriculture; Agricultural Research Service, National Animal Disease Center; Ames, IA USA
snip...
The results of this study suggest that there are many similarities in the manifestation of CWD and scrapie in WTD after IC inoculation including early and widespread presence of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues, clinical signs of depression and weight loss progressing to wasting, and an incubation time of 21-23 months. Moreover, western blots (WB) done on brain material from the obex region have a molecular profile similar to CWD and distinct from tissues of the cerebrum or the scrapie inoculum. However, results of microscopic and IHC examination indicate that there are differences between the lesions expected in CWD and those that occur in deer with scrapie: amyloid plaques were not noted in any sections of brain examined from these deer and the pattern of immunoreactivity by IHC was diffuse rather than plaque-like. After a natural route of exposure, 100% of WTD were susceptible to scrapie. Deer developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied from 28 to 33 months PI. Tissues from these deer were positive for PrPSc by IHC and WB. Similar to IC inoculated deer, samples from these deer exhibited two different molecular profiles: samples from obex resembled CWD whereas those from cerebrum were similar to the original scrapie inoculum. On further examination by WB using a panel of antibodies, the tissues from deer with scrapie exhibit properties differing from tissues either from sheep with scrapie or WTD with CWD. Samples from WTD with CWD or sheep with scrapie are strongly immunoreactive when probed with mAb P4, however, samples from WTD with scrapie are only weakly immunoreactive. In contrast, when probed with mAb’s 6H4 or SAF 84, samples from sheep with scrapie and WTD with CWD are weakly immunoreactive and samples from WTD with scrapie are strongly positive. This work demonstrates that WTD are highly susceptible to sheep scrapie, but on first passage, scrapie in WTD is differentiable from CWD.
PO-039: A comparison of scrapie and chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer
Justin Greenlee, Jodi Smith, Eric Nicholson US Dept. Agriculture; Agricultural Research Service, National Animal Disease Center; Ames, IA USA
snip...
The results of this study suggest that there are many similarities in the manifestation of CWD and scrapie in WTD after IC inoculation including early and widespread presence of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues, clinical signs of depression and weight loss progressing to wasting, and an incubation time of 21-23 months. Moreover, western blots (WB) done on brain material from the obex region have a molecular profile similar to CWD and distinct from tissues of the cerebrum or the scrapie inoculum. However, results of microscopic and IHC examination indicate that there are differences between the lesions expected in CWD and those that occur in deer with scrapie: amyloid plaques were not noted in any sections of brain examined from these deer and the pattern of immunoreactivity by IHC was diffuse rather than plaque-like. After a natural route of exposure, 100% of WTD were susceptible to scrapie. Deer developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied from 28 to 33 months PI. Tissues from these deer were positive for PrPSc by IHC and WB. Similar to IC inoculated deer, samples from these deer exhibited two different molecular profiles: samples from obex resembled CWD whereas those from cerebrum were similar to the original scrapie inoculum. On further examination by WB using a panel of antibodies, the tissues from deer with scrapie exhibit properties differing from tissues either from sheep with scrapie or WTD with CWD. Samples from WTD with CWD or sheep with scrapie are strongly immunoreactive when probed with mAb P4, however, samples from WTD with scrapie are only weakly immunoreactive. In contrast, when probed with mAb’s 6H4 or SAF 84, samples from sheep with scrapie and WTD with CWD are weakly immunoreactive and samples from WTD with scrapie are strongly positive. This work demonstrates that WTD are highly susceptible to sheep scrapie, but on first passage, scrapie in WTD is differentiable from CWD.
2011
*** After a natural route of exposure, 100% of white-tailed deer were susceptible to scrapie.
*** After a natural route of exposure, 100% of white-tailed deer were susceptible to scrapie.
Scrapie in Deer: Comparisons and Contrasts to
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
Justin J. Greenlee of the Virus and Prion Diseases Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, ARS, USDA, Ames, IA
snip...
This highlights the facts that 1) prior to the onset of clinical signs PrPSc is widely distributed in the CNS and lymphoid tissues and 2) currently used diagnostic methods are sufficient to detect PrPSc prior to the onset of clinical signs. The results of this study suggest that there are many similarities in the manifestation of CWD and scrapie in white-tailed deer after IC inoculation including early and widespread presence of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues, clinical signs of depression and weight loss progressing to wasting, and an incubation time of 21-23 months. Moreover, western blots (WB) done on brain material from the obex region have a molecular profile consistent with CWD and distinct from tissues of the cerebrum or the scrapie inoculum. However, results of microscopic and IHC examination indicate that there are differences between the lesions expected in CWD and those that occur in deer with scrapie: amyloid plaques were not noted in any sections of brain examined from these deer and the pattern of immunoreactivity by IHC was diffuse rather than plaque-like. After a natural route of exposure, 100% of white-tailed deer were susceptible to scrapie. Deer developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied from 28 to 33 months PI. Tissues from these deer were positive for scrapie by IHC and WB. Tissues with PrPSc immunoreactivity included brain, tonsil, retropharyngeal and mesenteric lymph nodes, hemal node, Peyer’s patches, and spleen. While two WB patterns have been detected in brain regions of deer inoculated by the natural route, unlike the IC inoculated deer, the pattern similar to the scrapie inoculum predominates.
Justin J. Greenlee of the Virus and Prion Diseases Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, ARS, USDA, Ames, IA
snip...
This highlights the facts that 1) prior to the onset of clinical signs PrPSc is widely distributed in the CNS and lymphoid tissues and 2) currently used diagnostic methods are sufficient to detect PrPSc prior to the onset of clinical signs. The results of this study suggest that there are many similarities in the manifestation of CWD and scrapie in white-tailed deer after IC inoculation including early and widespread presence of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues, clinical signs of depression and weight loss progressing to wasting, and an incubation time of 21-23 months. Moreover, western blots (WB) done on brain material from the obex region have a molecular profile consistent with CWD and distinct from tissues of the cerebrum or the scrapie inoculum. However, results of microscopic and IHC examination indicate that there are differences between the lesions expected in CWD and those that occur in deer with scrapie: amyloid plaques were not noted in any sections of brain examined from these deer and the pattern of immunoreactivity by IHC was diffuse rather than plaque-like. After a natural route of exposure, 100% of white-tailed deer were susceptible to scrapie. Deer developed clinical signs of wasting and mental depression and were necropsied from 28 to 33 months PI. Tissues from these deer were positive for scrapie by IHC and WB. Tissues with PrPSc immunoreactivity included brain, tonsil, retropharyngeal and mesenteric lymph nodes, hemal node, Peyer’s patches, and spleen. While two WB patterns have been detected in brain regions of deer inoculated by the natural route, unlike the IC inoculated deer, the pattern similar to the scrapie inoculum predominates.
2011 Annual Report
Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES Location: Virus and Prion Research Unit
2011 Annual Report
In Objective 1, Assess cross-species transmissibility of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in livestock and wildlife, numerous experiments assessing the susceptibility of various TSEs in different host species were conducted. Most notable is deer inoculated with scrapie, which exhibits similarities to chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer suggestive of sheep scrapie as an origin of CWD.
snip...
4.Accomplishments 1. Deer inoculated with domestic isolates of sheep scrapie. Scrapie-affected deer exhibit 2 different patterns of disease associated prion protein. In some regions of the brain the pattern is much like that observed for scrapie, while in others it is more like chronic wasting disease (CWD), the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy typically associated with deer. This work conducted by ARS scientists at the National Animal Disease Center, Ames, IA suggests that an interspecies transmission of sheep scrapie to deer may have been the origin of CWD. This is important for husbandry practices with both captive deer, elk and sheep for farmers and ranchers attempting to keep their herds and flocks free of CWD and scrapie.
Research Project: TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES Location: Virus and Prion Research Unit
2011 Annual Report
In Objective 1, Assess cross-species transmissibility of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in livestock and wildlife, numerous experiments assessing the susceptibility of various TSEs in different host species were conducted. Most notable is deer inoculated with scrapie, which exhibits similarities to chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer suggestive of sheep scrapie as an origin of CWD.
snip...
4.Accomplishments 1. Deer inoculated with domestic isolates of sheep scrapie. Scrapie-affected deer exhibit 2 different patterns of disease associated prion protein. In some regions of the brain the pattern is much like that observed for scrapie, while in others it is more like chronic wasting disease (CWD), the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy typically associated with deer. This work conducted by ARS scientists at the National Animal Disease Center, Ames, IA suggests that an interspecies transmission of sheep scrapie to deer may have been the origin of CWD. This is important for husbandry practices with both captive deer, elk and sheep for farmers and ranchers attempting to keep their herds and flocks free of CWD and scrapie.
White-tailed Deer are Susceptible to Scrapie
by Natural Route of Infection
Jodi D. Smith, Justin J. Greenlee, and Robert A. Kunkle; Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS
snip...
This work demonstrates for the first time that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep scrapie by potential natural routes of inoculation. In-depth analysis of tissues will be done to determine similarities between scrapie in deer after intracranial and oral/intranasal inoculation and chronic wasting disease resulting from similar routes of inoculation.
Jodi D. Smith, Justin J. Greenlee, and Robert A. Kunkle; Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS
snip...
This work demonstrates for the first time that white-tailed deer are susceptible to sheep scrapie by potential natural routes of inoculation. In-depth analysis of tissues will be done to determine similarities between scrapie in deer after intracranial and oral/intranasal inoculation and chronic wasting disease resulting from similar routes of inoculation.
see full text ;
SEE MORE USAHA REPORTS HERE, 2012 NOT
PUBLISHED YET...TSS
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Proceedings/USAHAProceedings-2010-114th.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Proceedings/2009_USAHA_Proceedings.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Proceedings/USAHAProceedings-2010-114th.pdf
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Proceedings/2009_USAHA_Proceedings.pdf
Thursday, June 20, 2013
atypical, BSE, CWD, Scrapie, Captive Farmed shooting pens (livestock), Wild Cervids, Rectal Mucosa Biopsy 2012 USAHA Proceedings, and CJD TSE prion Update
atypical, BSE, CWD, Scrapie, Captive Farmed shooting pens (livestock), Wild Cervids, Rectal Mucosa Biopsy 2012 USAHA Proceedings, and CJD TSE prion Update
Friday, December 14, 2012
DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012
snip...
In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.
Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:
1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and
2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.
Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.
The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.
Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.
There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.
snip...
36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011). The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.
snip...
The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).
snip...
In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.
snip...
In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.
snip...
Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.
DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012
snip...
In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.
Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:
1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and
2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.
Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.
The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.
Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.
There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.
snip...
36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011). The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.
snip...
The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).
snip...
In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.
snip...
In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.
snip...
Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.
snip...
SNIP...SEE ;
Friday, December 14, 2012
DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012
DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Effects of Chronic Wasting Disease on the Pennsylvania Cervid Industry Following its Discovery
The Effects of Chronic Wasting Disease on the Pennsylvania Cervid Industry Following its Discovery
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Cervid Industry Unites To Set Direction for CWD Reform and seem to ignore their ignorance and denial in their role in spreading Chronic Wasting Disease
Cervid Industry Unites To Set Direction for CWD Reform and seem to ignore their ignorance and denial in their role in spreading Chronic Wasting Disease
As Chronic Wasting Disease CWD rises in deer herd, what about risk for humans?
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/07/as-chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-rises-in.html
TSS
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. | 3:22 PM
|
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