| Title |
Prion Remains Infectious after Passage through Digestive System of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
PLOS ONE, October 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0045774 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Kurt C. VerCauteren, John L. Pilon, Paul B. Nash, Gregory E. Phillips, Justin W. Fischer |
| Abstract |
Avian scavengers, such as American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), have potential to translocate infectious agents (prions) of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) diseases including chronic wasting disease, scrapie, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. We inoculated mice with fecal extracts obtained from 20 American crows that were force-fed material infected with RML-strain scrapie prions. These mice all evinced severe neurological dysfunction 196-231 d postinoculation (x =198; 95% CI: 210-216) and tested positive for prion disease. Our results suggest a large proportion of crows that consume prion-positive tissue are capable of passing infectious prions in their feces (ˆp=1.0; 95% CI: 0.8-1.0). Therefore, this common, migratory North American scavenger could play a role in the geographic spread of TSE diseases. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 27 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 7 | 26% |
| Spain | 2 | 7% |
| Mexico | 2 | 7% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 4% |
| Germany | 1 | 4% |
| Ecuador | 1 | 4% |
| Japan | 1 | 4% |
| Central African Republic | 1 | 4% |
| Peru | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 0 | 0% |
| Unknown | 10 | 37% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 20 | 74% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 15% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | 11% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 83 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
| Poland | 1 | 1% |
| Peru | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 78 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 14 | 17% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 12 | 14% |
| Student > Master | 9 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 9 | 11% |
| Other | 7 | 8% |
| Other | 14 | 17% |
| Unknown | 18 | 22% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 25 | 30% |
| Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine | 9 | 11% |
| Environmental Science | 8 | 10% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 7% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 11 | 13% |
| Unknown | 21 | 25% |