Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Genetic And Evolutionary Considerations Of The Chronic Wasting Disease – Human Species Barrier, Robert M. Zink
Genetic And Evolutionary Considerations Of The Chronic Wasting Disease – Human Species Barrier, Robert M. Zink
School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies can jump species barriers. In relatively few cases is the possible route of transmission thought to be known, mostly involving humans, cattle and sheep. It is thought that sheep might be the cause of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in cervids, and that humans might have gotten prion disease (e.g., vCJD) from eating meat from BSE+ cows. A looming societal question is whether humans will acquire a prion disease from ingesting prions from CWD+ deer. On an evolutionary tree of the PRNP gene in mammals, deer, sheep and cow are relatively closely related, …