Prion Disease in Dromedary Camels, Algeria

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Babelhadj, Baaissa ; Di Bari, Michele Angelo ; Pirisinu, Laura ; Chiappini, Barbara ; Gaouar, Semir Bechir Suheil ; Riccardi, Geraldina ; Marcon, Stefano ; Agrimi, Umberto ; Nonno, Romolo ; Vaccari, Gabriele
• Description:
  Prions cause fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, scrapie in small ruminants, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). After the BSE epidemic, and the associated human infections, began in 1996 in the United Kingdom, general concerns have been raised about animal prions. We detected a prion disease in dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Algeria. Symptoms suggesting prion disease occurred in 3.1% of dromedaries brought for slaughter to the Ouargla abattoir in 2015-2016. We confirmed diagnosis by detecting pathognomonic neurodegeneration and disease-specific prion protein (PrP|) in brain tissues from 3 symptomatic animals. Prion detection in lymphoid tissues is suggestive of the infectious nature of the disease. PrP| biochemical characterization showed differences with BSE and scrapie. Our identification of this prion disease in a geographically widespread livestock species requires urgent enforcement of surveillance and assessment of the potential risks to human and animal health.
• Subjects:
  Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Camel Prion Disease Camelus Dromedarius Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Dromedary Camels Prion Disease Prion Disease In Dromedary Camels, Algeria Prions Research Zoonoses
• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 24(6):1029-1036.
• Pubmed ID:
  29652245
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC6004840
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Algeria
• Location:
  Africa
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:9898bda32c588c5583d67f2f5e5773f674c37913f56d9d1a19b503fa41f04650
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/56326/cdc_56326_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.73 MB ]