Spatial & Temporal Dynamics of Prion Disease in Wildlife: Responses to Changing Land Use

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• 批准号: 0091961
• 负责人: N. Thompson Hobbs
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-15 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0091961&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Spatial; & Temporal; Dynamics; Prion

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) of the deer family is a member of a group of infectious diseases caused by transmissible proteins called prions. Similar diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle ("mad cow disease"), and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. The only place in the world where these diseases are known to occur in free-ranging wildlife is in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming, where an epidemic of CWD has been ongoing in populations of mule deer and elk for at least two decades. Our project will study this epidemic to better understand how CWD is transmitted, to develop mathematical models predicting its spread, and to evaluate ways to contain the disease. Chronic wasting disease poses a potentially catastrophic threat to members of the deer family throughout Western North America. Expansion of the current epidemic could reduce the abundance and distribution of deer and elk throughout the region and, in so doing, could cause enduring harm to recreation-based economies of the West. Moreover, although direct threats of this disease to human health have not been established, they have not be ruled out. CWD is currently localized, but similar diseases affect animals and people worldwide. It follows that limiting the spread of CWD represents a fundamentally important challenge for protecting the health of natural and human dominated ecosystems throughout the region, and, in the fullness of time, throughout the world.

鹿家族的慢性消耗性疾病（CWD）是由称为朊病毒的可传播蛋白引起的一组传染病的成员。 类似的疾病包括绵羊和山羊的瘙痒症、牛的牛海绵状脑病（“疯牛病”）和人类的克雅氏病。世界上唯一一个已知这些疾病发生在自由放养的野生动物中的地方是在科罗拉多东北部和怀俄明州东南部，那里的长耳鹿和麋鹿种群中慢性消耗病的流行已经持续了至少二十年。 我们的项目将研究这一流行病，以更好地了解慢性消耗病是如何传播的，开发预测其传播的数学模型，并评估控制疾病的方法。慢性消耗性疾病对整个北美西部的鹿家族成员构成了潜在的灾难性威胁。 目前疫情的扩大可能会减少整个地区鹿和麋鹿的数量和分布，这样做可能会对西方以娱乐为基础的经济造成持久的伤害。 此外，虽然尚未确定这种疾病对人类健康的直接威胁，但也不能排除这种威胁。 慢性消耗病目前是局部的，但类似的疾病影响世界各地的动物和人类。 因此，限制慢性消耗病的蔓延是保护整个区域、乃至全世界自然和人类主导的生态系统健康的一项根本性的重要挑战。