PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Marsh, Richard F.
AU  - Kincaid, Anthony E.
AU  - Bessen, Richard A.
AU  - Bartz, Jason C.
TI  - Interspecies Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease Prions to Squirrel Monkeys (<em>Saimiri sciureus</em>)
AID  - 10.1128/JVI.79.21.13794-13796.2005
DP  - 2005 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Virology
PG  - 13794--13796
VI  - 79
IP  - 21
4099  - http://jvi.asm.org/content/79/21/13794.short
4100  - http://jvi.asm.org/content/79/21/13794.full
SO  - J. Virol.2005 Nov 01; 79
AB  - Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging prion disease of deer and elk. The risk of CWD transmission to humans following exposure to CWD-infected tissues is unknown. To assess the susceptibility of nonhuman primates to CWD, two squirrel monkeys were inoculated with brain tissue from a CWD-infected mule deer. The CWD-inoculated squirrel monkeys developed a progressive neurodegenerative disease and were euthanized at 31 and 34 months postinfection. Brain tissue from the CWD-infected squirrel monkeys contained the abnormal isoform of the prion protein, PrP-res, and displayed spongiform degeneration. This is the first reported transmission of CWD to primates.