SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Spreading in Deer and Elk

"Chronic wasting disease" in deer and elk is caused by a specific infectious prion strain, related to "Mad Cow" disease. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department wants to start regulating the disposal of deer and elk carcasses. Chronic wasting disease is found in wild herds in Wyoming and Colorado, and also Nebraska, New Mexico, Illinois, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. It has spread to domestic herds in Colorado, Montana and other states.





The Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado flagged the problem again last year, in the journal "Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology."

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has recently emerged in North America as an important prion disease of captive and free-ranging cervids (species in the deer family). CWD is the only recognized transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) affecting free-ranging species. ...CWD has also infected farmed cervids in numerous jurisdictions, and has probably been endemic in North America's farmed deer and elk for well over a decade. Several free-ranging foci distant to the Colorado-Wyoming core area have been discovered since 2000, and new or intensified surveillance may well identify even more foci of infection. ...CWD is infectious, transmitting horizontally from infected to susceptible cervids. Early accumulation of PrP(CWD) in alimentary tract-associated lymphoid tissues during incubation suggests agent shedding in feces or saliva as plausible transmission routes. Residual infectivity in contaminated environments also appears to be important in sustaining epidemics. Improved tests allow CWD to be reliably diagnosed long before clinical signs appear. ...Although recognized as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) since the late 1970s (Williams and Young 1980, 1982), interest in and concern about CWD has only recently emerged. ...The geographic extent of endemic CWD in free-ranging wildlife was initially thought to be quite limited and its natural rate of expansion slow; however, recent investigations have revealed that CWD has been inadvertently spread much more widely via market-driven movements of infected, farmed elk and deer. Both the ecological and economic consequences of CWD and its spread remain to be determined; moreover, public health implications remain a question of intense interest.

ncbi

Unfortunately, no one paid much attention. Still playing the "Strain Game," authorities insist that there is "no evidence chronic wasting disease can spread to humans." Technically, this is true. Humans do not "get" that particular strain of prion disease and so, don't get deer and elk chronic wasting disease. But, research shows that prion strains do cross species barriers, infect victims in other species and 'adapt' by mutating into new strains. The new strains are specific to the new species, and cause new and different diseases in that species.

"Cross-species infection with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agents may lead to subclinical infection and to adaptation of the infection to new species."
* "Subclinical scrapie infection in a resistant species: persistence, replication, and adaptation of infectivity during four passages." Race R, Meade-White K, Raines A, Raymond GJ, Caughey B, Chesebro B. Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 S. Fourth Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. J Infect Dis. 2002 Dec 1;186 Suppl 2:S166-70. PMID: 12424693

"...prions may overcome natural transmissibility barriers between two species of mammals. This may happen if prion proteins from one of these two species have been exposed to abnormal prions from a third species."
* "Researchers Make Major Gain In Understanding How Prions Jump Species" Source: Case Western Reserve University
www.sciencedaily.com...

"Conformational variations in an infectious protein determine prion strain differences." Nature. 2004 Mar 18;428(6980):323-8. Tanaka M, Chien P, Naber N, Cooke R, Weissman JS. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. PMID: 15029196

"...the (prion strain) biochemical isoform of PrP(Sc) found is influenced by the cell type in which it accumulates."
* "Peripheral Tissue Involvement in Sporadic, Iatrogenic, and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: An Immunohistochemical, Quantitative, and Biochemical Study." Am J Pathol. 2004 Jan;164(1):143-153. Head MW, Ritchie D, Smith N, McLoughlin V, Nailon W, Samad S, Masson S, Bishop M, McCardle L, Ironside JW. National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit and Division of Pathology, School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. PMID: 14695328

Also see: "Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body
www.abovetopsecret.com...


Prion researchers say underlying "subclinical" prion infections cause disease well before the infection moves to the brain; there is a progressive, degenerative disease process affecting various body parts and systems.

"Diverse human disorders …arise from misfolding and aggregation of an underlying protein."
"Protein misfolding and disease: the case of prion disorders." Cell Mol Life Sci. 2003 Jan;60(1):133-43. Hetz C, Soto C. Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, 14 Chemin des Aulx, 1228 Plan les Ouates, Switzerland. PMID: 12613663

* "Chronic Subclinical Prion Disease Induced by Low-Dose Inoculum" Received September 24, 2001; J Virol. 2002 March; 76 (5): 2510–2517 Alana M. Thackray,1 Michael A. Klein,2 Adriano Aguzzi,3 and Raymond Bujdoso www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov...

"Subclinical prion infection in humans and animals." Br Med Bull. 2003;66:161-70. Hill AF, Collinge J. MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, London, UK. PMID: 14522857

The second big myth about prion diseases involves transmission: "Researchers have yet to discover how chronic wasting disease spreads." Again, technically true. No one has tracked the 'chronic wasting disease' prion to confirm that it spreads exactly like other prions are known to spread. Unfortunately, research on prion transmission in the USA was stalled when President Bush defined prions as "select agents" under anti-terrorist legislation.

The old news is that prions spread in urine and other bodily fluids, including blood - which means that soil and groundwater are contaminated easily, then waterways and finally, tapwater. So burying diseased carcasses is a really bad idea - even in 'approved' landfills. Burning carcasses only works at very high temperatures; if temperatures are not high enough, the prions are simply released into the air. And just to make matters really interesting, prions can use insects and microbes like viruses as vehicles of transmission.

"How does chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk spread from animal to animal? … University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers show that prions - infectious proteins considered to be at the root of the disease - literally stick to some soil types, suggesting that the landscape may serve as an environmental reservoir for the disease."
www.sciencedaily.com...

* Prion transmission in blood and urine: what are the implications for recombinant and urinary-derived gonadotrophins? Hum Reprod. 2002 Oct;17(10):2501-8. Reichl H, Balen A, Jansen CA. PMID: 12351519

"This finding indicates that previous attempts to quantify BSE and scrapie prions in milk or non-neural tissues, such as muscle, may have underestimated infectious titers by as much as a factor of 10,000, raising the possibility that prions could be present in these products in sufficient quantities to pose risk to humans..."
* UCSF-Led Team Reports New Test Improves Detection of Prions in Animals
www.sciencedaily.com...

"It is possible that infectious prions have leached into the water supply, government scientists admit. … The main risks to human health are contamination of water supplies from buried animals, or carcasses awaiting disposal, and pollution of the air from burning pyres."
www.newscientist.com...

"Fly larvae and mites were exposed to brain-infected material and were readily able to transmit scrapie (prions) to hamsters. New lines of evidence have confirmed that adult flies are also able to express prion proteins. Several cell types found on the human skin, including keratinocytes, fibroblasts and lymphocytes, are susceptible to the abnormal infective isoform of the prion protein, which transforms the skin to produce a potential target for prion infection."
* Could ectoparasites act as vectors for prion diseases? Int J Dermatol. 2003 Jun;42(6):425-9. Lupi O. Center for Vaccine Development, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA. PMID: 12786866

This 1986 paper describes how "proteinaceous capsids" use viruses as vehicles of transmission, and how the subsequent RNA interference silences genes.
* "Viral influences on aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus flavus." Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 24:248-252. Schmidt FR, Lemke PA, Esser K (1986)

"Epidemiological observations indicate that a microbial vector is responsible for the transmission of natural prion disease in sheep and goats … A similar phenomenon was already described with a protein antigen of the ameba Naegleria gruberi. ...It is proposed that many microbial proteins may be capable of replicating themselves in mammalian cells eliciting and sustaining thereby degenerative and/or autoimmune reactions subsequent to infections with microorganisms."
* Med Hypotheses. 1999 Aug;53(2):91-102. Is the pathogen of prion disease a microbial protein? Fuzi M. Budapest Institute of National Public Health and Medical Officer Service, Hungary. PMID: 10532698

"Although composting reaches high enough temperatures for a long enough time to kill most pathogens ...it would be highly unlikely that composting would inactivate prions."
cornelldailysun.com...

The technology now exists to kill prions, and prevent their spread. It is not being used. It will not be used until people stand together and demand protection, and prevention.



Related News Links:
www.aberdeennews.com
laramiewy.usl.myareaguide.com
www.state.nd.us
www.ext.nodak.edu

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
OP/ED: The Final Solution
ATS: Merck and Vioxx: A Twisted Tale of Cover-ups, Pork and Profits
NEWS: Mad Cow Disease Is Found In Goat
SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body



[edit on 3-2-2005 by Banshee]

[edit on 3-2-2005 by Banshee]

[edit on 3-2-2005 by Banshee]

Also see:

Chronic Wasting Disease and Potential Transmission to Humans

www.cdc.gov...
www.abovetopsecret.com...



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How did the prions cross over? Last time I checked deer and elk were not "carnivores". Was it from "deerhunter" feeding at the deer stands? Or was there something else. Perhaps a bioresearch lab located at the heart of the infected area? Poor biowaste control?

[edit on 3-2-2005 by DrHoracid]

I remember a year or so ago (sorry no link -- just my memory) that there was a theory that elk and deer had jumped fences and possibly eaten cow feed that was infected-- which is one reason I haven't eaten the elk in my freezer that was a gift from a friend.

But it has also made me wonder about the beef in the US since what the elk was supposed to have eaten was in the US also.

jm

Originally posted by DrHoracid
How did the prions cross over? Last time I checked deer and elk were not "carnivores". Was if from "deerhunter" feeding at the deer stands? Or was there something else. Perhaps a bioresearch lab located at the heart of the infected area? Poor biowaste control?

See above: The second big myth about prion diseases involves transmission

The old news is that prions spread in urine and other bodily fluids, including blood - which means that soil and groundwater are contaminated easily, then waterways and finally, tapwater.

...So burying diseased carcasses is a really bad idea - even in 'approved' landfills.

...Burning carcasses only works at very high temperatures; if temperatures are not high enough, the prions are simply released into the air.

...And just to make matters really interesting, prions can use insects and microbes like viruses as vehicles of transmission.


So we're looking at multiple sources of cross-over and infection. ...Looks like you are focusing on bio-labs as a source of new strains, as well as electro-magnetic fields - definitely important factors, I would think.

My focus looks at 'fibromuscular dysplasia' being the first 'cross-over' prion strain, introduced into humans in the early 1900's - and originally spread from humans to animals. Since then prions have become epidemic, and bounce around species with regularity - creating new diseases with every go-round.

....So we have (at least) two fronts here:

1. The role of bio-technology and bio-weapons research labs in creating new strains and routinely releasing them into the environment, often 'accidentally' because appropriate filtering and other decontamination procedures are not used.

2. The already epidemic existence of numerous prion strains in soil, air, water and food - and a continuing process of adaptation and mutation - with no measures for prevention, protection and clean up planned.


....The fact that prions are "select agents" means that nobody can monitor what's happening for the public good... Cute.


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Originally posted by justme1640
there was a theory that elk and deer had jumped fences and possibly eaten cow feed that was infected

...Please, please justme - read the section on transmission in the article, and check the references. ...It's not just the feed, and feed bans won't fix the problem.



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The "original" cross over prion "may" have been mutated by electromagnetic polution.

Bio-failities have a bad habit of concentrating prions in centifuges and then just flushed them before it was really known what was happening. Now too many researchers have discovered that prions don't "die" ever.....

[edit on 3-2-2005 by DrHoracid]

Now we've pretty much established that transmission can happen through urine. When a Buck marks his territory he essentialy is leaving a point of contamination correct. One would have to assume that these prions are then released and absorbed. Rainwater would then wash the prions over a larger area thereby contaminating grass and other fodder. When they mate I asume that there would also be an infection transfer.
Now how did the prions cross over? Let's say that birds eat the contaminated feed, and spread it by their droppings, not that unrealistic if you ask me. Since the prions are able to mutate, it's really only a matter of time before it crosses over.
Soficrow, you stated that burning the bodies will only release the prions into the air if not hot enough. I've read that it has to be in excess of 1000 degrees fareignheit to kill these prions, that's hotter than burning the bodies would get I would think. Now if the prions are released into the air, is it possible that it becomes an airborne infection?
Cattle, goats, fish, now elk and deer. I think that alot more of the animal population is infected than anyone can imagine.

What Makes the Prion Lethal? Continued
The cases of spongiform disease in Britain occurred in cows, humans, cats, and other animals during the same time period. The country had been using an aggressive organophosphate program to kill the warble fly at the time of the BSE/CJD outbreak there. During the 1980s and early 1990s, cattle and cats were exclusively treated with systemically acting forms of organophosphate insecticide that were designed to penetrate the entire physiological system of the animal, transforming the bloodstream into a toxic medium that would kill off any unwanted parasites present. The entire cow carcass would become toxic to warble fly. Farmers were ordered by the Government to apply the insecticide on the backs of their cows. This could have caused nerve damage in the coated area, deforming the normal prions along the spinal cord and making them susceptible.

chemistry.about.com...

This is an interesting take on the subject......

mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease and that "bird flu" in asia........just waiting for the fish disease to show up. what an odd odd odd odd odd odd coincidence....domestect livstock infected with something weird and now wild 'livestock' infected......or should i say spreading.
both are food sources..i know others that rely on wild animals for their only meat source..no getting anitbotic filled, bloated cow meat from your local grocery store.

so once agian, what an odd odd odd odd odd coincidence...just waiting for the fish wasting disease.

didn't somebody calling themself...something like john titor say something along the lines of a disease affecting livestock or something

just waiting for the fish wasting disease.

Soficrow actually had reported that there already are infections diagnosed in fish. I'll try and find the link.
DrHoracid also has an interesting point regarding electromagnetic polution being a culprit.

www.falconblanco.com...

Note - As I said over 5 years ago, on this site and many times on my program:
the oral/body fluid transmission of infection and death by prion is a reality. This
newest study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that
prions in the infected and dying are readily found in nostrils. We already have
proof prions are plentiful in tonsils, tongues and muscle tissue of infected
animals and people. Someday, a brave scientist will confirm that prions are in
all general body fluids...something that is more than obvious.
Once again, I will state clearly: prions from BSE-infected animals will also be found to be present in the body fluid called milk...meaning all dairy products are susceptible to carrying prions. ALL of them. For obvious reasons, no one is daring to do the research...or at least daring to publish the results. Death by cheese, milk, ice ream and butter?

Yeah I was wondering about the milk supply. Not only does a very large amount of the products we consume contain milk as an ingredient, none of these products would be heated to the point of killing the prions.
Now for a very chilling thought. Anybody with infants can feel this one, How many babies thru toddlers drink milk, or milk based products every day? I'll bet the house that it is by far the vast majority that do indeed drink milk. Has an entire generation been infected?

You don't "kill" a Prion...it's not a living organism. It's a mis-folded protein...when you cook meat, and eat it, you're still getting "protein". Inluding the prions. Doesn't matter how well you cook the stuff...I VERY loosely think of it as kind of like eating meat with fiberglass in it (might be a bad example, but...). No matter how much you cook it, the fiberglass will still be in there. When you eat it, the fiberglass then gets caught up in your stomach, you develop diseases/cancer in your digestive system as a result. Prions are similar, only of course the symptoms are based around the nervous system. The developing proteins in your body come into contact with these "Misbehaved" proteins, and become dilinquent themselves...
Thorough cooking is not going to help anyone here. You absolutely CANNOT allow any meat infected with these diseases enter your system whatsoever, no matter what "precautions" you take, because there are none to be taken in the preparation of the contaminated product.

This has the potential to become pandemic to the entire US deer/elk herd. I have to admit that NY state is being very proactive about this. Warnings are posted in the annual game hunting brochure that's available when it's time to renew your hunting license. Our DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) is trying to get the word out and is speaking out against feeding wild deer; but the fact is that illegal feeding (baiting) as well as poaching makes it very hard to have confidence in the state saying no deer have been found with CWD in NY.

This image shows the sampling done in NY state. At this point we are being told that no samples have come back positive for CWD in NY; but I have to believe otherwise. Statistically it is only a matter of time.



We also have had numerous cases of VCJD investigated in NY, in some areas where if I recall correctly (from somewhere else but I do not have a link) deer herds are very populous. It does make one wonder.

[edit on 2/3/2005 by titian]

You absolutely CANNOT allow any meat infected with these diseases enter your system whatsoever, no matter what "precautions" you take, because there are none to be taken in the preparation of the contaminated product.

Understood, but I think the main concern here is that the infection is so wide-spread at this point that it may already be too late. How many species have this disease that we're not even thinking about? Squirrels, possums, raccoons, poultry, swine, rabbits.... the list goes on and on, and every one of the afore mentioned species is eaten by man. Many of them are road kill, which then get eaten by other species.
I personally don't think that there is any way to absolutely ensure that you don't ingest any prions, with the exception of becoming vegan.

Originally posted by Ghaleon4
You don't "kill" a Prion...it's not a living organism. It's a mis-folded protein...when you cook meat, and eat it, you're still getting "protein". Inluding the prions. Doesn't matter how well you cook the stuff...I VERY loosely think of it as kind of like eating meat with fiberglass in it (might be a bad example, but...). No matter how much you cook it, the fiberglass will still be in there. When you eat it, the fiberglass then gets caught up in your stomach, you develop diseases/cancer in your digestive system as a result. Prions are similar, only of course the symptoms are based around the nervous system. The developing proteins in your body come into contact with these "Misbehaved" proteins, and become dilinquent themselves...
Thorough cooking is not going to help anyone here. You absolutely CANNOT allow any meat infected with these diseases enter your system whatsoever, no matter what "precautions" you take, because there are none to be taken in the preparation of the contaminated product.

You are absolutely correct. Our point here is that mutated prions "PrPSC" to be precise are everywhere. This "pandemic" is already happening.

You have voted soficrow for the Way Above Top Secret award.

Sofi, many thanks for keeping the ATS community aware and informed on this potentially human illness.

What am I missing? What technology are we not using to cotain or prevent this disease from spreading?

good research as usually soficrow...

I just remembered an article on cow mutilations i read over a year ago, that gave very specific information about what these really were...

the source said that it was actually a black ops government project using the UFO stories as cover for the real operation.

which was to document the progression of prion diseases like Mad cow in the herd animal population and use the "wierd masochistic aliens" ruse as cover...

the evidence was very well presented and backed itself up on every level.

But the lack of a "prion disease" in the news or other outlet, made me think it was a well presented paranoid delusion...

if these 2 theories connect...
I be changin my underwear...

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe

You have voted soficrow for the Way Above Top Secret award.

Sofi, many thanks for keeping the ATS community aware and informed on this potentially human illness.

What am I missing? What technology are we not using to cotain or prevent this disease from spreading?

wow. thanks.

...this is much more than a 'potentially human illness' - it's all ready a plague, like the hydra, every time you cut off one head, 2 more grow in its place.

....we need to demand that EPA regulations be enforced - and upgraded. Hospitals and food production facilities need to be properly decontaminated and sterilized. Water needs to be nano-filtered before it enters our homes - and before it goes into our waterways. ...We need to have an oversight organization or something watching everything - and telling us about it, honestly.


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