Nasal bots carry relevant titers of CWD prions in naturally infected white-tailed deer.

ABSTRACT: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting farmed and free-ranging cervids. CWD is rapidly expanding across North America and its mechanisms of transmission are not completely understood. Considering that cervids are commonly afflicted by nasal bot flies, we tested the potential of these parasites to transmit CWD. Parasites collected from naturally infected white-tailed deer were tested evaluated for their prion content using the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technology and bioassays. Here, we describe PMCA seeding activity in nasal bot larvae collected from naturally infected, non-clinical deer. These parasites efficiently infected CWD-susceptible mice in ways suggestive of high infectivity titers. To further mimic environmental transmission, bot larvae ho

SUBMITTER: Ms. Paulina Soto 

PROVIDER: S-SCDT-10_1038-S44319-023-00003-7 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other