Study of CWD Deer and Elk Prion Disease in Nonhuman Prim

本研究旨在评估鹿或麋鹿的一种朊病毒病——慢性消耗性疾病可能传染给人类的可能性。人类似乎容易感染一种牛朊病毒疾病——牛海绵状脑病（疯牛病），这一发现进一步加剧了这种担忧。为了研究CWD跨物种传播的可能性，研究人员将两种非人类灵长类动物松鼠猴和食蟹猴从CWD感染的鹿或麋鹿的大脑中提取的物质经口或脑内感染。感染三年后，脑内感染的松鼠猴出现临床神经学症状，经脑生化和病理检查证实为朊病毒病。对剩余猴子的观察将至少再持续几年

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). 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. 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