Virology

Volume 251, Issue 2, 25 November 1998, Pages 297-301

 

The Host Range of Chronic Wasting Disease Is Altered on Passage in Ferrets*1

 

Jason C. Bartz, Richard F. Marsh, Debbie I. McKenzie and Judd M. Aiken1

 

Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, University of Wisconsin, 1655 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706

 

Received 5 June 1998;  revised 17 July 1998;  accepted 15 September 1998. ; Available online 6 April 2002.

 

Abstract

 

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), was first identified in captive mule and black-tail deer in 1967. Due to the failure to transmit CWD to rodents, we investigated the use of ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) as a small animal model of CWD. The inoculation of CWD into ferrets resulted in an incubation period of 17–21 months on primary passage that shortened to 5 months by the third ferret passage. The brain tissue of animals inoculated with ferret-passaged CWD exhibited spongiform degeneration and reactive astrocytosis. Western blot analysis of ferret-passaged CWD demonstrated the presence of PrP-res. Unlike mule deer CWD, ferret-passaged CWD was transmissible to Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Increasing the passage number of CWD in ferrets increased the pathogenicity of the agent for hamsters. This increase in host range of a field isolate on interspecies transmission emphasizes the need for caution when assessing the potential risk of transmission of TSEs, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, to new host species.

 

*1 C. Gibbs

 

1 To whom reprint requests should be addressed. Fax: (608) 262-7420. E-mail:jma@ahabs.wisc.edu.