Norwegian Reindeer are getting a contageous Prion Disease
A contagious brain disease has hit Norway’s reindeer, and scientists are afraid of it spreading
Norway takes its reindeer seriously. Europe’s last remaining wild mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) live in central and southern Norway. So the country’s veterinarians are naturally worried after finding a reindeer that died of a deadly and contagious brain disease—the reindeer version of mad-cow disease.
The reindeer’s natural habitat has reduced by half in the last 50 years. Though the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists has the species on its “least concern” list, it is worried about its future population.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD), which afflicted the reindeer found by researchers last month in southern Norway, is related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad-cow disease) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. It occurs when cellular proteins fold into abnormal shapes that allow them to make other healthy proteins misfold too. Eventually, these mutant proteins, called prions, aggregate in the brain to cause cognitive and behavioral disabilities, and eventually death. There is no known cure.
CWD is highly contagious; it’s spread through animal excretions. There are almost certainly more cases out there, which is why veterinarians told Nature that they are “very afraid.”
more
http://qz.com/667786/a-contagious-brain-disease-has-hit-norways-reindeer-and-scientists-are-afraid-of-it-spreading/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Chronic wasting disease
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk (or "wapiti", and moose ("elk" in Europe). To date, CWD has only been found in members of the deer family. First recognized as a clinical "wasting" syndrome in 1967 in mule deer in a wildlife research facility in northern Colorado, USA, it was identified as a TSE in 1978 and has spread to free-ranging and captive populations in 23 US states and two Canadian provinces.[1] CWD is typified by chronic weight loss leading to death. No relationship is known between CWD and any other TSE of animals or people.
Although reports in the popular press have been made of humans being affected by CWD, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests, "[m]ore epidemiologic and laboratory studies are needed to monitor the possibility of such transmissions."[2] The epidemiological study further concluded, "[a]s a precaution, hunters should avoid eating deer and elk tissues known to harbor the CWD agent (e.g., brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes) from areas where CWD has been identified."
