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Antemortem Detection Of PrpCwd In Preclinical, Ranch-Raised Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus Elaphus Nelsoni) By Biopsy Of The Rectal Mucosa, Terry R. Spraker, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Thomas Gidlewski, David A. Schneider, Randy Munger, Aru Balachandran, Katherine I. O'Rourke

Other Publications in Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease

Antemortem biopsy of the rectal mucosa was evaluated as a method for the preclinical diagnosis of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a herd of ranch-raised Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) quarantined because of exposure to CWD. Biopsy samples were obtained from 41 elk during the winter of 2005–2006 and from 26 elk from that herd still alive and available for testing during the winter of 2006–2007. Samples were examined for PrP^CWD, the protein marker for CWD infection, by immunohistochemistry. PrP^CWD was detected in follicles of the rectoanal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue in biopsy samples from …