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From: TSS ()
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.21.13794-13796.2005 Interspecies Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease Prions to Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) Received 3 May 2005/ Accepted 10 August 2005 Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging prion disease of deer and elk. The risk of CWD transmission to humans following exposure to CWD-infected tissues is unknown. To assess the susceptibility of nonhuman primates to CWD, two squirrel monkeys were inoculated with brain tissue from a CWD-infected mule deer. The CWD-inoculated squirrel monkeys developed a progressive neurodegenerative disease and were euthanized at 31 and 34 months postinfection. Brain tissue from the CWD-infected squirrel monkeys contained the abnormal isoform of the prion protein, PrP-res, and displayed spongiform degeneration. This is the first reported transmission of CWD to primates. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178. Phone: (402) 280-1811. Fax: (402) 280-1875. E-mail: jbartz@creighton.edu . Deceased. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Journal of Virology, November 2005, p. 13794-13796, Vol. 79, No. 21
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