Study of CWD Deer and Elk Prion Disease in Nonhuman Primates

This study is aimed at evaluating the potential that chronic wasting disease, a prion disease of deer or elk, might be transmissible to humans. This concern is amplified by the finding that humans appear to be susceptible to infection by a cattle prion disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disase). <P>To study the possibility of cross-species transmission of CWD, two species of nonhuman primates, squirrel monkeys and cynomologus macaques, were infected orally or intracerebrally with brain material derived from CWD affected deer or elk. <P>Three years after infection intracerebrally infected squirrel monkeys developed clinical neurological signs and were confirmed by biochemical and pathological testing of brain to have a prion disease. Observations on the remaining monkeys will continue for at least a few more years