Research

Risk behaviors in a rural community with a known point-source exposure to chronic wasting disease

Ralph M Garruto^1,2 , Chris Reiber² , Marta P Alfonso² , Heidi Gastrich² , Kelsey Needham² , Sarah Sunderman² , Sarah Walker² , Jennifer Weeks^2,3 , Nicholas DeRosa⁴ , Eric Faisst^3,4 , John Dunn⁴ , Kenneth Fanelli⁴ and Kenneth Shilkret⁴

¹Laboratory of Biomedical Anthropology and Neurosciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, New York, 13902-6000, USA

²Graduate Program in Biomedical Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, New York, 13902-6000, USA

³Madison County Health Department, Wampsville, New York, 13163, USA

⁴Oneida County Health Department, Utica, New York, 13501, USA

author email corresponding author email

Environmental Health 2008, 7:31doi:10.1186/1476-069X-7-31

Published:	24 June 2008

Abstract

Background

The emergence and continuing spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in cervids has now reached 14 U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, and South Korea, producing a potential for transmission of CWD prions to humans and other animals globally. In 2005, CWD spread for the first time from the Midwest to more densely populated regions of the East Coast. As a result, a large cohort of individuals attending a wild game feast in upstate New York were exposed to a deer that was subsequently confirmed positive for CWD.

Methods

Eighty-one participants who ingested or otherwise were exposed to a deer with chronic wasting disease at a local New York State sportsman's feast were recruited for this study. Participants were administered an exposure questionnaire and agreed to follow-up health evaluations longitudinally over the next six years.

Results

Our results indicate two types of risks for those who attended the feast, a Feast Risk and a General Risk. The larger the number of risk factors, the greater the risk to human health if CWD is transmissible to humans. Long-term surveillance of feast participants exposed to CWD is ongoing.

Conclusion

The risk data from this study provide a relative scale for cumulative exposure to CWD-infected tissues and surfaces, and those in the upper tiers of cumulative risk may be most at risk if CWD is transmissible to humans.