Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Journal

PLoS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0327485

PMID

40632755

PMCID

PMC12240315

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

7-9-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Cervids susceptible to chronic wasting disease (CWD) are sympatric with multiple other animal species that can interact with infectious prions. Several reports have described the susceptibility of other species to CWD prions, or their potential to transport them. One of these species is the coyote (Canis latrans), which has been previously shown to pass transmission-relevant prion titers in their feces for at least three days after ingesting prion-positive brain material. The current study followed up on these findings and evaluated the distribution of prions in multiple tissues from the same coyotes. Our results show that prions persist in the digestive tract of prion-exposed coyotes five days after exposure. Moreover, prion seeding activity was identified in other tissues, including lymph nodes and lungs. These results provide additional information about the dynamics of CWD prions in the environment and show the initial fate of prions after ingestion by a canid species that is a carnivorous predator and scavenger.

Keywords

Animals, Wasting Disease, Chronic, Coyotes, Prions, Brain, Lung, Lymph Nodes

Published Open-Access

yes

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