Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Nordic forests – is that a problem?
Jørn Våge1
Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Elizabeth Stephansens vei 1, 1433 Ås , NO
Abstract Since 2016, CWD has worried and puzzled Nordic animal health authorities and the biological communities, either health or ecological oriented. It first struck wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in southern Norway, with later detections in a few Norwegian red deer (Cervus elaphus) and some twenty plus moose (Alces alces) scattered in the forests of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Being a well-recognized threat to North American cervids, CWD was all-new to Europe, though similar prion disease in sheep (scrapie) and cattle (BSE) has been under strict management for decades. The awareness and precautions toward animal prion diseases were of course strengthened by the mid-1990s transmission from cattle to humans and development of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacobs Disease, and again the uncertain zoonotic potential of emergent CWD strains in Europe.
While CWD in USA and Canada, like for Norwegian reindeer, spreads with contagious prion strains the Nordic red deer and moose so far experience sporadic cases with no apparent connection. This is not unlike prion disease in sheep and cattle, nor in humans. Despite decades of surveillance and testing “over there” and above 200 000 European cervids enrolled here since 2016, the origin of CWD is a mystery on both side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The talk will shed light on ongoing surveillance, management and disease research concerning the emergent European CWD strains.