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Breakthrough in research could mean tests, vaccine for dangerous diseases

Breakthrough in research could mean tests, vaccine for dangerous diseases Writer: Johnny Morgan at 225-578-8484 or jmorgan@agcenter.lsu.edu (12/11/17) BATON ROUGE, La. — A major door has been opened to researchers involved in work on chronic wasting disease, mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. LSU AgCenter animal scientist Frank Bastian has developed a way to grow the bacteria that cause these diseases, and make it possible to develop tests and vaccines for them. Chronic wasting disease in deer has been in the news the past 30 or so years. It has been found in 21 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Chronic wasting disease is a terminal disease found in elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer, red deer, moose, and other animals in the cervid family. The fatal form of the disease is known as mad cow disease in cattle. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the human form of these two diseases and is found, but often undiagnosed, in 15 percent of Alzheimer’s patients. Bastian, who is a neuropathologist, has spent his career working on these diseases. He is excited to know that his work is finally paying off in the form of a procedure that will allow him and others to grow the bacteria and therefore begin working on tests and possible vaccines. “This is really exciting news because this allows me to work on the bacteria, while other laboratories with access to chronic wasting disease-affected deer tissues can conduct research also,” he said. “We need more laboratories involved with this approach.” For years, Bastian had been unsuccessful in growing the bacteria in the lab, but his recent breakthrough has microbiologists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham interested in joining in the research. This research will be especially important for hunters because they currently have no way to know whether their kill is infected with chronic wasting disease. For the first 10 months of infection, or incubation period, animals appear normal, then abruptly develop the clinical signs of chronic wasting disease and die in a few weeks. “I would like to give hunters a test kit that they can carry in the woods so they can test their kill for presence of the bacteria while they are in the field,” Bastian said. “Hunters need to know whether their kill is infected before they consume the meat.” Most people infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are between 40 and 80 years old, and 90 percent of those infected die within a year, most within a few weeks, Bastian said. “We should be worried about these diseases because there is a potential infection reservoir in chronic wasting disease-infected deer populations,” he said. Before this discovery, the bacteria in the laboratory would only grow for about 10 hours, then die. So Bastian changed the medium, and that made the difference. Now he is able to grow 100 percent of the specimens. “The problem that hunters face in eating potentially infected meat is that heat does not kill this bacteria,” he said. “Eighty-five degrees centigrade does not affect it, and the bacteria survive up to boiling (100 degrees centigrade). This is significant because E. coli is dead at 80.” It is recommended that meat reaches an internal temperature of 70 degrees centigrade or 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The ability to grow the organism makes it possible to generate data that can answer many of the questions scientists have about these diseases. At present there is no cure or treatment for these diseases, but this breakthrough will allow researchers to begin the process of discovering possible treatments and cures. “Tetracycline has been used as a treatment for the infection, but it has proven to only slow the activity of the bacteria,” Bastian said. Bastian believes he is now within a year or two of being able to produce a test that hunters can use to determine whether their kill is infected with chronic wasting disease. Frank Bastian can be reached at 225-578-3241 or fbastian@agcenter.lsu.edu