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Infectious prions found in deer meat
The Denver Post ^ | Jan. 27, 2006 | Katy Human

Posted on 01/27/2006 9:35:14 AM PST by girlangler

Infectious prions found in deer meat Research finds the matter, which causes chronic wasting disease, in muscle. It had been thought to be only in nervous-system tissue. By Katy Human Denver Post Staff Writer

A person who eats venison could swallow the proteins shown to cause a deadly brain disease in deer, elk and moose, researchers reported today.

Their article in the journal Science represents the first time scientists have found the proteins that cause the affliction, chronic wasting disease, in the meat and muscle of deer.

Previously, it had been found only in the brain, spinal and lymph tissues. Health officials have long reassured hunters they would not be exposed to the disease as long as they did not touch or eat those parts.

A Colorado expert on the disease said the discovery doesn't necessarily mean that Colorado hunters should change their practices or that venison eaters should change their habits.

There's still no evidence that a person has caught a brain disease by eating a sick deer, said the expert, Mike Miller, a veterinarian with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

In the Science article, Colorado and Kentucky scientists said they had found "significant" amounts of disease-causing prion proteins in the hamstring muscle of deer dying from chronic wasting disease.

When injected into laboratory mouse brains, the muscle tissue caused wasting disease.

"People who are handling or consuming deer meat are going to be at risk to consuming prions," said Glenn Telling, a molecular biologist at the University of Kentucky and co-author of the study.

Scientists still don't know whether the deer prions can sicken people, Telling said, but the finding "raises the stakes."

Prions that cause a similar disease - mad cow - have never been found in cow muscle tissue.

Even so, a few people who ate mad-cow-infected beef have caught and died of a deadly brain disease, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob.

"People are more likely to

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run a risk of exposure to chronic wasting disease proteins" through deer meat than they are to ingest mad-cow proteins by eating beef, Telling said. "It's clearly there in the meat, but in very small quantities," said Miller, also a co-author of the new paper.

"We've been saying for 10, 11 years now, 'Don't consume deer or elk that appear to be sick,"' Miller said. "If anything, this confirms that our standing recommendations are appropriate."

John Pape, an epidemiologist with the state health department, agreed.

He just submitted a paper showing that the incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in Colorado is no higher than it is elsewhere, even in places without chronic wasting disease.

"We can't exclude that possibility, that a rare (human) case could occur, but it's certainly not occurring at a high rate," Pape said.

The new study suggests that experts can monitor the incidence of chronic wasting disease by taking muscle samples from wild animals, Telling said.

Previously, the only reliable tests for the disease involved killing deer, elk or moose to test brain, lymph or spinal tissue.

Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cwd; deer; disease; hunting; prions
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1 posted on 01/27/2006 9:35:15 AM PST by girlangler
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To: girlangler; Diana in Wisconsin; billhilly; proud_yank; SJackson

FYI Ping.


2 posted on 01/27/2006 9:38:49 AM PST by girlangler (I'd rather be fishing)
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To: girlangler

This is why many were laughing when I was at an animal ID seminar. The government wants all livestock electronicaly marked for ID and tracking of many of the diseases that wildlife carries. Your herd shows signs and is removed, but infectious wildlife stays.


3 posted on 01/27/2006 9:39:29 AM PST by barj
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To: barj

Yes and you probably also know that the deer and the antelope frequently graze amoung the cattle on the range!


4 posted on 01/27/2006 9:48:34 AM PST by Pylot
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To: Pylot

They don't just graze, but I've seen the deer and the antelope play, and seldom was heard a discouraging word.

Sounds almost like King's I have a dream speach.

I have a dream that one day deer and antelopes will clasp hooves and sing in the words . . .


5 posted on 01/27/2006 9:52:27 AM PST by barj
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To: girlangler
When injected into laboratory mouse brains, the muscle tissue caused wasting disease.

The only conclusion that I can draw from this is to quit injecting hamstring muscle into our brains. No mention of backstrap, but I will immediately quit injecting it into my brain.

6 posted on 01/27/2006 9:53:00 AM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
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To: Pylot

yes but do the animal rights people feed the wildlife with supplemental feed in the winter?


7 posted on 01/27/2006 9:53:31 AM PST by jrd
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To: girlangler

Prions have not been shown to be infectious yet. They are suspected to be infectious - hence the name (proteinaceous infectious particle or Prion) but their mechanisms of action and reproduction are unknown.

There's enough bad, nay appalling science in virology without making up more infectious particles without proof.


8 posted on 01/27/2006 9:55:13 AM PST by agere_contra
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To: girlangler

That's it, no more venison for me!..............


9 posted on 01/27/2006 10:02:14 AM PST by Red Badger (...I will bless them that bless thee and those who curse thee I will turn into Liberals..........)
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To: Red Badger

Scary


10 posted on 01/27/2006 10:04:59 AM PST by outofhere2
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To: outofhere2

Isn't a Prion that new car from Honda?...........


11 posted on 01/27/2006 10:06:37 AM PST by Red Badger (...I will bless them that bless thee and those who curse thee I will turn into Liberals..........)
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To: girlangler
This is why I prefer oriental food. None of that "red" meat for me:


12 posted on 01/27/2006 10:07:42 AM PST by P-Marlowe
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To: girlangler
A prion is nothing more than a malformed protein, and is not harmful unless it happens to be close enough in morphology to a human protein. That's the good news. The bad news is that a lot of them are.

Venison. It's what's for dinner.

13 posted on 01/27/2006 10:07:52 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: girlangler
As far as I know, the prion link is still not widely accepted as the vector for CWD. The prions have been found in beef, cow milk and other places as well. Still, CJD is very rare in humans, so the simple presence of prions is not necessarily an indicator of risk for consumption.
14 posted on 01/27/2006 10:10:07 AM PST by TChris ("Unless you act, you're going to lose your world." - Mark Steyn)
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To: Petronski

ping


15 posted on 01/27/2006 10:10:46 AM PST by cyborg (I just love that man.)
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To: Billthedrill

I've got a back strap defrosting right now!


16 posted on 01/27/2006 10:13:58 AM PST by Roccus
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To: girlangler
Koch's Postulates have been fulfilled in this particular case. There are nerves in every muscle of the animal's body and if CWD follows neural tissue it is logical that the muscle will have the prions. Any animal that I even suspect has been around a prion infected animal(CWD, BSE, Scrapie) will not make it to my table if at all possible.
17 posted on 01/27/2006 10:27:41 AM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: girlangler

I'm forwarding this to a childhood friend who loves deer meat.


18 posted on 01/27/2006 10:29:07 AM PST by lilylangtree
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To: jrd
yes but do the animal rights people feed the wildlife with supplemental feed in the winter?

You may have answered one of my questions. If the animal can only be infected by eating another infected animal (or by injecting tissue from an infected animal into their brains) then how did the wild population get it? If it's *common* in wildlife with only supplemental feed, then I fear our meat supply is probably in worse shape than I ever imagined. We may be in real trouble.

19 posted on 01/27/2006 10:32:43 AM PST by Marie (Support the Troops. Slap a hippy.)
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To: lilylangtree

There a number of very suspicious cases of transmission to humans but the links are not definitive enough to be called proven. Here is link to the best study done on the cases carried out by the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm


20 posted on 01/27/2006 10:32:48 AM PST by JustDoItAlways
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