Completed
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal prion disease affecting the central nervous systems of cervids, such as deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose. Prion diseases are caused by the abnormal folding of the prion proteins that form clumps in the brain. The disease was first detected in Colorado in 1967 and is thought to spread among cervids through contact with saliva and other fluids. It is now found in more than 26 states and two Canadian provinces. A National Academies committee will review the state of knowledge about modes of transmission and means of geographic spread of CWD.
Featured publication
State of Knowledge Regarding Transmission, Spread, and Management of Chronic Wasting Disease in U.S. Captive and Free-Ranging Cervid Populations
Consensus Study Report
·2025
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, infectious prion disease affecting the central nervous system of some species of Cervidae-animals such as deer, elk, and moose. Recognized as a disease in the 1980s but suspected to have been present in the United States for decades longer, CWD affects both...
View details