TY - JOUR AU - Moore, S. AU - Carlson, Christina AU - Schneider, Jay AU - Johnson, Christopher AU - Greenlee, Justin T1 - Increased Attack Rates and Decreased Incubation Periods in Raccoons with Chronic Wasting Disease Passaged through Meadow Voles T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2022 VL - 28 IS - 4 SP - 793 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a naturally-occurring neurodegenerative disease of cervids. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) have previously been shown to be susceptible to the CWD agent. To investigate the potential for transmission of the agent of CWD from white-tailed deer to voles and subsequently to raccoons, we intracranially inoculated raccoons with brain homogenate from a CWD-affected white-tailed deer (CWDWtd) or derivatives of this isolate after it had been passaged through voles 1 or 5 times. We found that passage of the CWDWtd isolate through voles led to a change in the biologic behavior of the CWD agent, including increased attack rates and decreased incubation periods in raccoons. A better understanding of the dynamics of cross-species transmission of CWD prions can provide insights into how these infectious proteins evolve in new hosts. KW - chronic wasting disease KW - wild animals KW - central nervous system KW - North America KW - prions and related diseases KW - veterinary medicine KW - raccoons KW - voles DO - 10.3201/eid2804.210271 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28/4/21-0271_article ER - End of Reference