University of Wisconsin finding could be way to beat CWD prion
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have found a chink in the armor of the tough infectious prion that is believed to cause CWD, the fatal brain-wasting disease that plagues Wisconsin's white-tailed deer herd.
The finding is particularly important because prions survive in soil for years, meaning that they could potentially infect other animals.
Because prions infect wild and domesticated animals, they can contaminate barnyards and other areas were infected livestock are kept and persist in natural environments where deer gather.
A team led by researchers Joel Pedersen and Judd Aiken found that a common soil mineral -- an oxidized form of manganese -- can diminish the amount of the prion protein and also decrease the ability of the prion to malform in the way that leads to diseases such as CWD, mad cow disease and scrapie in sheep.
However, the experiments were conducted on prions in solution in a laboratory, so additional research is needed in soil and in animals, Pedersen said in an interview.
"This certainly has potential but we need to investigate," he said. "Other materials in soil might limit its effectiveness."
Prions in soil are critical links in the chain of infection, according to Pedersen, because the infectious agent does not appear to depend on intermediate organisms such as mosquitoes or ticks.
The finding is also important because prions strongly resist conventional methods of inactivating pathogens.
The research was published in the Journal of General Virology earlier this month.
