MSGID: 1:317/3 64a8e66f   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Ticks may be able to spread chronic wasting disease between Wisconsin   
   deer    
      
     Date:   
         July 7, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Wisconsin-Madison   
     Summary:   
         A new study finds that ticks can harbor transmissible amounts of   
         the protein particle that causes Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD),   
         implicating the parasites as possible agents in the disease's   
         spread between deer in Wisconsin.   
      
      
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   A new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison   
   finds that ticks can harbor transmissible amounts of the protein particle   
   that causes Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), implicating the parasites as   
   possible agents in the disease's spread between deer in Wisconsin. Her   
   findings were published in the journal Scientific reports,a Nature   
   journal.   
      
   CWD is caused by a pathogenic agent called a prion, which can pass from   
   deer- to-deer through contact with things like prion-contaminated soil   
   and infected bodily fluids such as urine, saliva, blood and feces. Prions,   
   which cause disease in animals and in humans, prompt certain proteins to   
   fold abnormally, particularly in the brain, and prevent these proteins   
   from carrying out their normal functions. Over time, the CWD prion can   
   cause severe brain damage and eventually death in deer.   
      
   A lot of CWD studies focus on the role soil plays in spreading the fatal   
   neurological disease among deer. But Heather Inzalaco, a researcher   
   in the Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, housed in the   
   UW-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, was curious about   
   other potential environmental and behavioral means of transmission.   
      
   "Deer live these secret lives; we don't see everything that they do,"   
   Inzalaco says.   
      
   She started to consider what sort of things pester deer that could be   
   connected to CWD: Ticks were the perfect parasitic potential culprit   
   to investigate.   
      
   Ticks have a goal, of course, to feed on their host's blood. Inzalaco   
   began to wonder if ticks that acquire blood from CWD-infected deer   
   could also host the prions and if so, could they contain enough prions   
   to spread the disease.   
      
   The question became even more intriguing when she discovered that the most   
   common non-aggressive social behavior that deer engage in is allogrooming.   
      
   "Deer will groom one another to get places that they can't reach on their   
   own through self-grooming," Inzalaco says. "If they're grooming each   
   other and they're doing that to remove ectoparasites [such as ticks], that   
   might be problematic because they're probably eating the ectoparasites."   
   First, she needed to show that ticks can take up and harbor these prions   
   when they feed on CWD-infected blood. She designed an experiment to do   
   just that.   
      
   "You'd think that it'd be easy to get ticks to take a blood meal, but   
   they are surprisingly fussy in the lab," Inzalaco says.   
      
   She was able to determine that ticks can not only carry the prions in   
   their blood meal, they can also carry enough of the agent to potentially   
   infect another animal with CWD. After seeing that the phenomenon was   
   possible in the lab, it was time to see what was happening in the wild.   
      
   Inzalaco partnered with the Department of Natural Resources to study   
   ticks collected from deer that hunters harvested and submitted for CWD   
   testing. Of the 176 deer with ticks she studied, 15 of the deer were   
   also positive for CWD.   
      
   Inzalaco took the ticks from the infected deer and tested the blood they   
   contained to quantify the amount of prion the ticks harbored.   
      
   She determined that these engorged, wild ticks did carry transmissible   
   levels of prions -- just like those in the lab -- making them potential   
   mechanical vectors for the disease.   
      
   "They're just like a little CWD tic-tac that are possibly being eaten   
   by the deer," Inzalaco says.   
      
   The study did not test whether prion-carrying ticks did cause transmission   
   to other deer.   
      
   Understanding more about how CWD can spread can help improve the   
   management of the disease. While it isn't practical to treat all wild   
   deer with tick preventatives, Inzalaco believes better land stewardship   
   could help manage tick populations.   
      
   For instance, having contiguous habitat of native plant communities and   
   properly managing areas to continue a natural fire regime has been shown   
   to limit tick populations, she says, while more fragmented, unbalanced   
   ecosystems riddled with invasive plants may allow ticks to proliferate   
   more readily.   
      
   Inzalaco says it might be possible to use ticks as a way to screen for CWD   
   in both wild and farmed deer. Current methods of diagnosis or screening   
   involve invasive sample collection from animals or tissue sampling after   
   their death.   
      
   While testing the ticks from deer may not lead to the same level of   
   accuracy as testing tissue samples, it could still be a useful tool to   
   better understanding where the disease is affecting deer population in   
   the state.   
      
   Inzalaco also believes her research can help improve the ecosystems that   
   everyone relies on, especially the state's hunters.   
      
   "We are all inextricably linked to ecosystem function and the biodiversity   
   of those ecosystems," she says. "That is really what drives my desire   
   to learn and do good science on a daily basis. We need to make an effort   
   to preserve our natural heritage so that we can continue living on this   
   planet and not be overtaken by disease and have healthy animals and   
   healthy functioning ecosystems."   
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   provided by University_of_Wisconsin-Madison. Original written by Elise   
   Mahon. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Inzalaco, H.N., Bravo-Risi, F., Morales, R. et al. icks harbor and   
         excrete chronic wasting disease prions. Sci Rep, 2023 DOI: 10.1038/   
         s41598-023-34308-3   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230707153844.htm   
      
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