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The first case of CWD in a Norwegian red deer was detected by a routine ELISA test and confirmed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry in the brain stem of the animal. Two different western blotting tests were conducted independently in two different laboratories, showing that the red deer glycoprofile was different from the Norwegian CWD reindeer and CWD moose and from North American CWD. The isolate showed nevertheless features similar to the classical BSE (BSE-C) strain. Furthermore, BSE-C could not be excluded based on the PrP Sc immunohistochemistry staining in the brainstem and the absence of detectable PrP Sc in the lymphoid tissues. Because of the known ability of BSE-C to cross species barriers as well as its zoonotic potential, the CWD red deer isolate was submitted to the EURL Strain Typing Expert Group (STEG) as a BSE-C suspect for further investigation. In addition, different strain typing in vivo and in vitro strategies aiming at identifying the BSE-C strain in the red deer isolate were performed independently in three research groups and BSE-C was not found in it. These results suggest that the Norwegian CWD red deer case was infected with a previously unknown CWD type and further investigation is needed to determine the characteristics of this potential new CWD strain., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Infection patterns linked to age and sex are crucial to predict the population dynamic effects of diseases in long-lived species. How such demographic patterns of infection arise is often multifactorial, although the cause is commonly seen as a combination of immune status as well as variation in pathogen exposure. Prion diseases are particularly interesting, as they do not trigger an adaptive immune response; hence, differences in pathogen exposure linked to behavior could be the prime determinant of the pattern of infection. In cervids, the fatal prion disease, chronic wasting disease (CWD), is spreading geographically, with economic and cultural consequences in affected areas in North America, and all infected individuals eventually die from disease-associated sequelae if they live long enough. Understanding the causes of the demographic pattern of infection with CWD is therefore urgent but is limited by the fact that reported data primarily come from related deer species in North America. The recent (detected 2016) emergence of CWD among wild alpine reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in Norway with a different social organization, that is, no home range behavior and no matrilineal female groups, offers an opportunity to advance our understanding of how behavior influences the infection patterns. Testing of 1081 males and 1278 females detected 19 animals positive for abnormal prion protein in brain and/or lymphatic tissues. No calves and only one male yearling were infected, with the remaining positives being adults (representing 1.5% of adult males and 0.5% of adult females). We found a strong sex-biased infection pattern in reindeer (with infection 2.7 times more likely in adult males), which is similar to the results reported in mule deer and white-tailed deer. The hazard of being detected as positive increased with age in males. There was no close genetic relatedness among positive animals. The results were consistent with the within-group contact of males being a possible major route of transmission. We discuss the demographic pattern of infection with CWD in view of the lack of stable home range behavior and other key behavioral traits of reindeer relevant to understanding pathogen exposure in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new European food policy following the BSE crisis, the consumer is called upon to take an active and responsible role. But in the political and organizational restructuring processes following the European Union policy, diverse constructions of the food consumer can be identified in different national contexts. The article analyses the discursive framings of the food consumer in four national settings: Norway, Denmark, Italy and Portugal, based on interview data from a comparative research project, TRUSTINFOOD. The main discursive framings that in each national context were shared by all types of actors in the food sector were: 'the trusting consumer' (Norway); 'the complex consumer' (Denmark); 'the quality conscious consumer' (Italy); and 'the unprotected consumer' (Portugal). These consensual constructions tie in with national survey results illuminating consumers, self-understandings of individual agency and acting. But consumer responsibilities for food issues also fuel conflictual representations, in the northern countries between different food issues and in the southern countries between different types of actors. Both consensual and main and conflicting framings relate to national organizational institutionalizations in the food sector. It is concluded that references to the European consumer are misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Chronic wasting disease (CWD), the most transmissible of the prion diseases, was detected in 2016 in Norway in a wild reindeer. This is the first case in Europe, an unexpected one. This paper focuses on the issues that the arrival of CWD raises in Northern Europe, especially regarding the Indigenous Sami reindeer husbandry in Sweden. The study offers a diagnosis of the situation regarding the management of the disease and its risks. We present the importance of the involvement of the Sami people in the surveillance program in order to understand better the diseases and the reindeer populations, movement, and behavior. However, the implementation of new European health standards in the Sami reindeer herding could have tremendous consequences on the evolution of this ancestral activity and the relationship between herders and reindeer. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the most transmissible of the prion diseases. In 2016, an unexpected case was found in Norway, the first in Europe. Since then, there have been 32 confirmed cases in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. This paper aims to examine the situation from a social and political perspective: considering the management of CWD in the Swedish part of Sápmi—the Sami ancestral land; identifying the place of the Sami people in the risk management–because of the threats to Sami reindeer herding that CWD presents; and understanding how the disease can modify the modalities of Indigenous reindeer husbandry, whether or not CWD is epizootic. Based on interviews with various stakeholders and by examining the social sciences literature, this paper shows that the health risk management is structured by a politico-scientific controversy about the recognition, or not, of atypical and classical CWD. The Sami herders are currently cooperating with the state authorities in the surveillance program to sample their herds. This involvement takes place in a situation where the balance of power between the Sami people and the state, or the European Union, is framed by its colonial context. This has consequences with respect to the definition of a common interest and to implementing sanitary measures. The particular features of reindeer herding are seen as a challenge to managing CWD risk, compared with European health standards. We argue that CWD will greatly modify the modalities of Indigenous reindeer herding, whether there are positive cases or not in the Sami reindeer. By implementing new health guidelines, the authorities will create a cascading effect in Sami land and its use. The CWD situation in Fennoscandia is full of uncertainty but may cause a major shift in the organization and the governance of Sápmi. In September 2020, the identification of a new CWD case in a wild reindeer in Norway started a new episode in the disease management in Fennoscandia. Our paper raises various questions linked to understanding this new step in this crisis which is not only epidemiological, but also socio-cultural and political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report presents the results of surveillance on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in bovine animals, sheep, goats, cervids and other species, and genotyping in sheep, carried out in 2018 by 28 Member States (MS) according to legislation, and by Iceland, North Macedonia, Norway and Switzerland (non‐MS). In total, 1,181,934 cattle were tested by MS, a 10% decrease from 2017 and 20,402 by the four non‐MS. One case of classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was reported in 2018 by the UK, born after the enforcement of the total feed ban. Three atypical BSE cases (2 L‐type/1 H‐type) were reported by France. Over the year, a total of 325,386 sheep and 138,128 goats were tested in the EU, an increase of 3.4% and 17.8%, respectively, compared to 2017. In sheep, 934 cases of scrapie were reported: 821 classical (99 index cases and 97.8% with genotypes of susceptible groups) by 7 MS and 113 atypical (105 index cases) by 14 MS. Twenty‐nine ovine scrapie cases were reported by Iceland and Norway. Random genotyping was only reported by eight MS and after excluding Cyprus showed that 18.7% of the genotyped sheep carried genotypes of the susceptible groups. In goats, 523 cases of scrapie were reported: 517 classical (38 index cases) by seven MS and six atypical (all index cases) by four MS. The heterogenous enforcement of a 3‐year surveillance programme for chronic wasting disease (CWD) from 1/1/2018 in six MS (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden) resulted in the testing of 5,110 cervids and the confirmation of the first case of CWD in the EU: a wild moose in Finland. Other six MS tested 3,075 cervids with no positive results. Norway tested 33,037 cervids in 2018, resulting in seven new cases: six reindeer and one moose. In total, 105 animals from three other species were tested by two MS, with negative results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]