How is chronic wasting disease transmitted?
How CWD is transmitted from one animal to another is not yet completely understood. In the cases of CWD in wild deer in Colorado and Wyoming, both maternal and lateral transmission appeared likely. Transmission of the disease appeared to occur between deer that were in close proximity to each other. A close study of the disease indicates that lateral transmission is the major means of transmission, because most affected animals in Colorado and Wyoming were not related to each other. It is thought that CWD is transmitted through the saliva, faeces or urine. Once ingested, the disease has an incubation period of 16-30 months before the onset of clinically observed symptoms. The BSE outbreak in Europe in cattle is believed to have been caused by the unwise and continual feeding of cattle with scrapie-infected animal products. This feeding of slaughterhouse remains of sheep and cattle, some of which were infected with BSE and scrapies, to the next generation of cattle is thought to have ca
