Innovation Anthology #208:
Prion researchers from across Canada as well as from the United States, Asia and Europe met in Edmonton this week to discuss their latest findings.
Misfolded prions are the culprits behind mad cow disease. And while “mad cow” seems to be well under control, it has raised the red flag on other prion diseases.
The big concern now is the spread of chronic wasting disease through herds of deer, elk and possibly caribou.
Dr. Neil Cashman, scientific director of PrioNet Canada, explains.
DR. NEIL CASHMAN: It has been estimated that 100 years in the future there wlll not be a single cervid, deer, elk caribou, left in North America because of the unrelenting advance of CWD. And my colleagues and I feel that there is a significant risk of penetration to the north. And northern economies involvement of the caribou herd would be nothing short of a disaster of the first order for aboriginal populations.
Scientists revealed at the Prion Conference that prions shed from infected deer linger in the soil for decades.
Thanks today to Alberta Ingenuity.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Program Date: 2009-03-05