Food Safety

Better Training for Safer FoodInitiative

Sylvie Benestad

“Chronic Wasting in Europe: EU provisions and monitoring

programme”

Aims of the presentation

• What is CWD?

• Present situation in the Nordic countries

– Depopulation of CWD reindeer area

– Surveillance program in Norway

– Different Norwegian CWD strains

• EFSA CWD opinion

• EU strategy for monitoring and control in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden

CWDclinical signs

Behavior changes

Emaciation

Excessive salivation, urination

Most of the time no signs, or unspecific signs

Terry Spraker, CSU, CO

March 2016• Nordfjella area

Photo: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)

First European CWD case

CWD diagnosed in North-America and Korea

Last

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionius)

White tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Elk / "wapiti“(Cervus elaphus nelsoni/canadensis)

Moose (Alces alces)Wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

IHC

WB TeSeE bio-Rad

ELISA TeSeE Bio-Rad

Immediate Governmental reactionsMinistry of Agriculture and Food

1st of July 2016 •No export of live cervids from Norway•Limitation of movements of cervids between counties•No import and use of urine lures from countries with CWD•Prohibition of salt licking stones and feeding of wild cervids

Extensive surveillance programme

Surveillance program for CWD in Norwayhttp://apps.vetinst.no/skrantesykestatistikk/NO/https://www.vetinst.no/sykdom-og-agens/chronic-wasting-disease

TeSeE ELISA test, analysed the day they come to the lab. Confirmed by TeSeE WB or IHC.

Fallen stock: whole country, all cervidsHunted: in and around Nordfjella, all cervidsSlaugtered: semi domesticated reindeer, whole country

2016: app. 10 000 cervids2017: app. 25 600 cervids2018: plan 30 000 cervids Total: 64 000 so far

Hunting season 2016: 2 additional reindeer, Norfjella.

Photo: Jeger.no

Cervids are overlapping populations

Christer Rolandsen

Wild Semi dom.

Reindeer

and sheep, everywhere

Semi-domesticated

«Semi domestic» reindeer: no fence, free ranging most oftheir life, few human interventions

2 populations of reindeer

Wild

•2200 reindeer / 25 000 total wild reindeer

•Nordfjella, relatively isolated area

Photo: Jaktlykke.no

Depopulation of Nordfjella reindeer completed2471 reindeer testedBoth Brain and Ln analysed19 positive, 0,76 % frequency

Photo: kvikneutmarksrad.no

CWD in Norway

Species Positive

Wild reindeer 19

Moose 4Red deer 1

Total 23

3 CWD zones

Same CWD type in the 2 species?19

2

1

1

… different reactions to Proteinase K treatment (cleavage sites):

N-term C-term

Characterization of a prion strain in vitro

Different shapes…

Differences between CWD found in reindeer vs moose

Reindeer Moose

Age at detection Young/adult (mid age) High

Distribution of prions

Lymph nodes alone or also brain

In brain but not in lymph nodes

Distribution in brain Disseminated, mostly brainstem

Mostly in neurones, whole brain

Western blot Indistinguishable from findings in USA

Lower MW, N-terminal truncated

Kuhmo, Finland,March 2018

CWD in Norway

19

2

1

14 CWD zones

How is the red deer?

Species Positive

Wild reindeer 19

Moose 4

Red deer 1

Total 24

1

1. Kaleidoscope

2. Neg

3. Classical scrapie

4. CD14051 red deer

5. CD14051 red deer

6. CD14051 red deer

7. CD14051 red deer

8. reindeer

9. moose

10. MM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

P4N-term C-termSHa31

P4

Like the moose, the red deer prions loose the N-terminal

red deer

red deer

SHa31

Institutions Country Recipient Prion gene from

INRA Toulouse France Transgenic mice Ovine (3 lines), bovine, human

CEA Jouy-en-Josas

France Transgenic mice Macaques

ISS Rome Italy Bank voles 2 genotypes

UCL London UK Transgenic mice Human

PRC Fort Collins USA Transgenic mice Cervids and elk

CWRU Cleveland USA Transgenic mice Human

ANSES Lyon France Transgenic mice Ovine

Roslin Edinburgh UK Conventional mice Murine

CISA Madrid Spain Transgenic mice Bovine, ovine, human, porcine

Alberta University Canada Mice Murine

FLI Riems Germany Mice Murine

Passaged into rodents to strain typing

First transmission results indicate that:- The moose and the reindeer have a different CWD strain- Moose and reindeer strains are also different from CWD from NA

CWD very contagious within cervids

Directly

Via environment

Experience from NA, what about Norwegian cases?

Photo: betterphoto.com

EFSA Opinion I and II• 1-Recommendations on surveillance of the cervid populations at the country

level aimed at detecting CWD and/or estimating the prevalence of CWD in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, which are the EU and EEA countries with reindeer and/or moose populations, depending on the level of prevalence which is wished to be detected.

• 2-New evidence with regard to possible public health risks due to the occurrence of CWD in cervids since the publication of the 2011 joint EFSA/ECDC opinion? Does the natural exposure of consumers to cervid products originating from regions where CWD cases are detected represent a risk for public health?

• 3-Recommendations, if necessary, for additional animal health risk‐based

measures to prevent the introduction of CWD into the EU cervid populations and to prevent its spread within the EU?

• 4-Update on diagnostic methods for CWD (since EFSA opinion of June 2004)

• 5- Update on the conclusions of the 2010 EFSA opinion on the results of the EU survey on CWD in cervids, as regards the occurrence of CWD in the cervid population in the EU.

ToR1: Recommendations on surveillance of the cervid populations

Countries with moose and reindeer

Double goal:1- detection2- estimation of prevalence in the CWD zones

• 100 primary sampling units PSU• 30 animals per PSU• 3000 animals in a 3 years period• All cervid species except fallow deer• Obex AND retropharygeal LN or tonsils

Scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) 18 January 2017. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4667

ToR2: Possible public health risks

• No experimental model that to directly assess zoonotic potential for any TSE, including CWD.

• CWD transmitted to squirrel monkeys, not to other animal models, including macaques and humanised mice.

• PMCA and RT-QuIC :the molecular barrier preventing transmission of CWD to humans may be less robust than previously thought.

• No absolute species barrier between CWD‐affected cervids and humans.

• All currently available data are derived from isolates from cases of CWD from NA cervid. But European and North American isolates are different.

• CWD prions are present in the skeletal muscle and other edible tissues and may be consumed in enzootic areas.

• The amount of infectivity in animal tissues entering the food chain is reduced for BSE and scrapie by the specified risk materials (SRM) measures, but such measures are not mandatory for cervids consumed in North America.

• Epidemiology: no association between the occurrence of sCJD in humans and exposure to CWD. Surveillance of sCJD : mortality rates are relatively consistent at 1–1.5 cases per million per year in both Europe and North America.

Reducing movements of live cervids.

No use natural cervid urine lures.

Awareness campaigns (hunters local or visiting), personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfection, carcasses handling.

Is the disease already present in some part of the EU territory: unknown No specific

programme of preventive measures.

Difficult to eliminate the disease once established , but measures to contain CWD

where the disease is present.

Minimising animal‐to‐animal contact and lowering population densities include:

o Forbid baiting/lures, supplementary feeding and lick blocks.

o Partial or total depopulation of cervids in infected areas.

o General reduction in wild population (increasing harvest permits, and/or extending hunting season or changing the harvest season).

o Selective culling: selective, preferential or planned removal of cervids in infected areas, defined using geographical or any other criterion.

No feeding of wildlife with dead cervid

No lichen removal from counties where CWD has been detected.

ToR3: Additional animal health risk‐based measures

to prevent the introduction of CWD into EU cervid populations

ToR4: Update on diagnostic methods for CWD (since EFSA opinion of June 2004)

• No data directly comparing available rapid testperformances in cervids.

• Norway: Bio-Rad TeSeE SAP test, IHC and WB work. • Testing both brainstem and lymphoid tissue increases

the surveillance sensitivity.

Scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease (II) EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) 6 December 2017 doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5132

ToR5: Update on the conclusions of the 2010 EFSA opinion on the results of the EU survey on CWD in cervids, as regards the occurrence of CWD in the cervid population in the EU.

• Previous EU survey had limitations to conclude about the potential disease occurrence in Europe.

• Low testing activity in Europe before 2016.• Not possible to conclude whether CWD is present or

not in the EU.• It appears plausible that CWD could have become

established in Norway more than a decade ago.

EU CWD programme for 3 yearsstarting 1 January 2018

Countries with moose and reindeer : Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.Regulation follows the recommendations of the EFSA opinion onCWD 2017.

Some diffrences: Obex should be tested. In addition, where feasible, a sample of one of the following tissues shall be collectedin the following order of preference: retropharyngeal Ln, tonsils, other head Ln.

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2017/1972of 30 October 2017amending Annexes I and III to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a surveillance programme for chronic wasting disease in cervids in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden and repealing Commission Decision 2007/182/EC

Take home messages

• First occurrence of CWD in Europe, in reindeer• First natural occurrence in wild red deer (European red deer)• Reindeer disease and North America CWD apparently similar,

but are different strains by bioassay studies• Moose show atypical traits, confirmed by bioassay. • Culling action to eradicate CWD in reindeer area, contagious

disease• Measures taken to restrain spread in moose and red deer

area, contagious disease?

The 50 years of NA experience can not be directly applied to the Norwegian/European CWD strains (contagiousness, cross species transmission, pathogenesis, zoonotic potential, genetics etc).

• Large surveillance programme in Norway• Implemented surveillance in 7 countries (with reindeer and

moose)

• Larger surveillance programme in the future?

Thanks to all the Norwegian colleagues: Veterinary Institute: Pathology technicians Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Ministry of Environment Norwegian Food Safety Authority The hunters

And thanks to international colleagues: Olivier Andréoletti, INRA Toulouse, Fr Emmanuel Comoy, CEA Jouy-en-Josas, Fr Romolo Nonno, ISS Rome, It John Collinge, UCL London, UK Glenn Telling, Terry Spraker, PRC Fort Collins, Colorado, USA Qingzhong Kong, CWRU Cleveland, USA Thierry Baron, ANSES, Lyon, Fr Vincent Beringue, INRA, Jouy-en-Josas, Fr Wilfred Goldmann, Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, UK Debbie McKenzie, Alberta University, Canada Juan Maria Torres and Juan Carlos Espinosa, CISA, Madrid, Spain Christine Fast, FLI, Riems, Germany

Thank you for your attention!

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