Sorry for the delay- here is a summary.
Still No Link Between Wild Game and Neurodegenerative Illness
The British outbreak of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) showed that
prion diseases could cross species barriers. Several cases of dementia that
have been diagnosed among wild game eaters have raised the worrisome
possibility that a prion disease of deer and elk (chronic wasting disease
[CWD]) might have spread to humans.
From 1976 through 1992, a lifelong hunter threw periodic "wild game feasts"
for his friends. In 1992, both the host and a guest developed rapidly
progressive neurologic impairments. The host's symptoms were characteristic
of CJD, and the guest received a clinical diagnosis of Pick's disease. On
autopsy, the host had spongiform encephalopathy, but no prion proteins
could be identified. The guest's brain tissue showed neither spongiform
encephalopathy nor prion proteins. In 1999, another guest who had attended
a single feast that was held 10 years previously also received a clinical
diagnosis of CJD. On autopsy, CJD was confirmed, but its phenotype was
consistent with sporadic CJD, rather than the infectious variant CJD.
Investigators traced 31 of approximately 50 other guests at these feasts;
27 were alive and free of neurologic symptoms, and none of the 4 who were
deceased had died of neurologic disorders.
Comment: These cases show no evidence of a link between CWD and CJD: Only 1
patient had confirmed prion disease that was consistent with the sporadic
form of the illness. A similar cluster of CJD in game-meat eaters that was
reported last year also failed to show a link. Still, investigators remain
eager to investigate all CJD cases, particularly in western states where
CWD has been reported, such as Colorado and Wyoming. At the time of
publication, the full text of the original article was available at
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5207a1.htm free of charge.
-- Abigail Zuger, MD
Published in Journal Watch February 28, 2003
Source
Fatal degenerative neurologic illnesses in men who participated in wild
game feasts -- Wisconsin, 2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2003 Feb 21;
52:125-7.
