click on bracketed underlined initial to go to the disease

Chronic Wasting Disease (go to CWD)
Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy (go to TME)
Exotic Ungulate Encephalopathy (go to EUE)
Large Cat Spongiform Encephalopathy (go to LC FSE)
Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy (go to FSE or Pets)
Zoo Primate Spongiform Encephalopathy (go to ZPSE)
Scrapie (go to Scrapie)

Chronology of Animal TSEs (to to table for TSEs)

CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease)

• Animals Affected
  • wild and captive cervids
    • Mule deer
    • Black-tailed deer
    • Mule-White-tailed deer
    • Rocky Mountain elk (wapiti)
• Discovered
  • 1967 in Colorado, USA
• Clinical Symptoms
  • animals 3-5yr old are often affected (range 17mo to 15yr)
  • wasting - loss of body conditioning and eventual emaciation (weight loss)
    • rumination affected by the neurological effects of the disease causing the wasting
  • behavioral changes
  • stupor/listlessness
  • repeated walking in a set pattern
  • hyperexcitability or nervousness in elk
  • possible ataxia and incoordination
  • eventual death
• Origin/Cause
  • unknown
  • possible lateral (animal to animal) and vertical transmission (mother to young)
  • no known relationship to other characterized TSEs such as BSE
• Location
  • endemic in
    • Colorado, USA
    • Wyoming, USA
  • cases in captive animals in Saskatchewan, Canada and Nebraski, Oklahoma, South Dakota, USA
• Concerns for humans
  • transmissibility to humans largely unknown but should not be dismissed
  • ovoid contact with deer that appear sick as lateral transmission may be possible
  • care should be taken to avoid contamination of meat with brain or spinal cord tissue during slaughter

TME (Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy)

• Animals Affected
  • mink on 'mink ranches'
• Discovered
  • 1947 in Wisconsin and Minnesota, USA
  • several outbreaks in the 1960s
• Origin/Cause
  • possible feeding of bovine or ovine MBM; questionable Scrapie origin
  • symptoms do not resemble TSEs in mink with experimental BSE
  • no evidence of laterall (animal to animal) or vertical transmission (mother to young)
• Clinical Symptoms
  • incubation period before clinical symptoms ~7mo
  • only adults affected
  • behavioral changes
    • confusion
    • loss of cleanliness
    • aimless circling
  • weight loss
  • hind-quarter ataxia
  • somnolence - sleepy
  • arching tail over the back like a squirrel
  • unresponsive
  • eventual death after ~7wk
• Location
  • USA
    • Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho
  • incidences in
    • Canada
    • Finland
    • East Germany
    • Russia
• Concerns for humans
  • transmissibility to humans largely unknown but possible
  • can be transmitted to nonhuman primates, ferrets, hampsters, sheep, goat and cattle
  • last outbreak in 1985

EUE (Exotic Ungulate Encephalopathy)

• Animals Affected
  • captive animals
    • antelopes
      • six greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)
      • six eland (Taurotragus oryx)
      • one nyala (Tragelaphus angasi)
      • one gemsbok (Oryx gazella)
    • one Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx)
    • one scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)
    • two ankole cattle
    • one American bison (Bison bison)
• Discovered
  • 1986 in the UK
• Clinical Symptoms
  • similar to BSE
• Origin/Cause
  • caused by feeding bovine MBM apparently contaminated with BSE
• Location
  • zoos in the UK
• Concerns for humans
  • animals have been destroyed

   

LC FSE (Large Cat Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy)

• Animals Affected
  • captive cats (members of the family Felidae)
    • nine cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in UK + three cheetah (Australia, Republic of Ireland, France)
    • three puma (Felis concolor)
    • three in ocelots
    • three in tigers (Pantera tigris)
    • three in lions (Panthera leo)
• Discovered
  • 1992 in the UK
• Origin/Cause
  • all animals were fed carasses of cattle unfit for human consumption
• Location
  • zoos in the UK or exported from UK zoos (three cheetah)
• Concerns for humans
  • animals have been destroyed

FSE (Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy)

• Animals Affected
  • domestic cats
• Discovered
  • 1990 in the UK
• Origin/Cause
  • all animals were fed bovine offal
• Location
  • 88 cases in Great Britain, 1 case in Northern Ireland, 1 case in Norway and 1 case in Liechtenstein
• Concerns for humans
  • animals have died and the incidence is declining in parallel with BSE
  • this disease is notifiable in the UK

   

ZPSE (Zoo Primate Spongiform Encephalopathy)

• Animals Affected
  • nonhuman primates
    • macaque rhesus
    • lemurs (large prosimians)
• Discovered
  • 1996 in France
• Origin/Cause
  • it is suspected that the animals were fed bovine offal containing BSE
• Location
  • zoo in Montpellier, France
• Concerns for humans
  • presumably the MBM ban will eliminate new incidences

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