Enhanced detection of chronic wasting disease in muscle tissue harvested from infected white-tailed deer employing combined prion amplification assays.

ABSTRACT: Zoonotic transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease, by presumed consumption of infected beef, has increased awareness of the public health risk associated with prion diseases. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) affects moose, elk, and deer, all of which are frequently consumed by humans. Clear evidence of CWD transmission to humans has not been demonstrated, yet, establishing whether CWD prions are present in muscle tissue preferentially consumed by humans is of increasing interest. Conventional assays including immunohistochemistry (IHC) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) lack the sensitivity to detect low concentrations of prions presumed to be present outside neural or lymphatic tissues. Here we combined two prion amplification assays, the product of prot

SUBMITTER: Kraft CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11498690 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature