UCalgary study finds vaccine protects against chronic wasting disease

Cases of an infectious disease that kills deer, elk, and moose are on the rise in Alberta.   Similar to mad cow disease (BSE) in cattle, chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of members of the deer family. Infected animals lose weight drastically (wasting), and suffer other symptoms like stumbling, lack of co-ordination, and drooling. CWD is fatal in all cases. There is no cure, treatment, or way to prevent it.But the study of a vaccine against CWD has made researchers in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) hopeful. The study was published recently in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. It found the vaccine, tested in a mouse model, prolonged the time before infected animals developed symptoms by up to 60 per cent.