Interesting discussion on CWD...

[Reprobait]

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting information. I tend to think this hasn't been with us forever. Even in ND I believe all the positives have been in a part of Grant county even though testing has been going on statewide. We sure need to do what we can to slow the spread.

 

[( deleted account )]

It takes the NDG&F awhile to collect samples. They are then sent to the University of Michigan. If a suspect is found they forward to Aimes Iowa who then notify NDG&F who in turn inform the sportsmen he has a positive in his/her freezer. This process can take 3 months. Much of a deer can be consumed by then. Some hunters elect to throw the remainder out while some choose to eat it.

However, if said hunter takes his/her positive deer to a processor to have sausage made, that positive may be co-mingled or go through the same grinder with many other deer during a days work/shift. There is no way of going back 3 months to see who's deer were co-mingled with what on any givin' day.

Bobkat, investors with waaaaay more money than you and I made the decision to fund research into finding a live animal test and/or a cure. The profit potential would be HUGE. So far the answer eludes. Government research facilities are also competing furiously for funding. It's a race.

Yes, an instant test, like the do it yourself pregnancy tests nowadays, would be nice to have. Modern tests definitely beat stuff like the ancient original “ female rabbit tests”.The odds so far of an affected animal are so low in ND so far, that you’d likey have better odds of “ winning” with the Powerball, though at least one of our members here did take an affected animal. Hope he wins the powerball, too!

I researched Scrapie and the history of Haggis, which has been consumed in Scotland for centuries and there seems to be no written records or references to any diseases resembling CWD variants over the centuries. No written records might be just the ancient culture and lack of much written stuff, though most of the run of 5he mill diseases were mentioned someplace or other. This suggests but doesn’t PROVE the scrapie just appeared in the last century or so. Sometimes old ancient moldy historical records can be helpful in tracking disease history.
when I donate blood they ask about living in the British Isles and France during some years. They’ve never asked if I eat brain or spinal cord or ground up bones or spleen or lymph nodes from Colorado elk! LOL

 

[Fritz the Cat]

I don't believe an instant test is going to be available anytime soon. The "kit" will show where to collect samples and where to send it. The results will say, "CWD not detected".

I believe scrapies has been bred out of sheep. Some sheep are immune to the mis-folded protein prion or TSE. So producers used those sheep only for breeding stock. Elk and deer also have markers. MM's are most susceptible, LM's not as much and it was thought LL's were immune. They sprayed infected CWD material up the nasal passages of animals in a research lab. The MM's showed clinical signs in 6 months. The LM's took 2-3 years and the LL's didn't get clinical until 6 years later. That was a heart breaker because after that many years they hoped those LL's were immune. Back to the drawing board.