Human Prion Disease and Relative Risk Associated with Chronic Wasting Disease

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Pape, W. John ; Forster, Jeri E. ; Anderson, C. Alan ; Bosque, Patrick ; Miller, Michael W. ; Mawhinney, Samantha
• Description:
  The transmission of the prion disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans raises concern about chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease of deer and elk. In 7 Colorado counties with high CWD prevalence, 75% of state hunting licenses are issued locally, which suggests that residents consume most regionally harvested game. We used Colorado death certificate data from 1979 through 2001 to evaluate rates of death from the human prion disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The relative risk (RR) of CJD for CWD-endemic county residents was not significantly increased (RR 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.40-1.63), and the rate of CJD did not increase over time (5-year RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.73-1.16). In Colorado, human prion disease resulting from CWD exposure is rare or nonexistent. However, given uncertainties about the incubation period, exposure, and clinical presentation, the possibility that the CWD agent might cause human disease cannot be eliminated.
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Animals Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome Deer Female Humans Male Middle Aged Prion Diseases Research Retrospective Studies Wasting Disease, Chronic

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 12(10):1527-1535.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  12
• Issue:
  10
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:2a5c3eda440a06dec42021defacc557f313b6ddba0b6085e62fb1b18577d4737
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/16201/cdc_16201_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 278.65 KB ]