Controled Burns & CWD

[Dan Salmon]

Does anyone know if there has ever been a study done to see if the prions are/would be killed by use of controlled burns?  There is very little natural fire in the environment any more and I wonder if there may not be some kind of link between the lack of fire and the proliferation of these prions remaining in the soil?

Anyone?  Am I crazy?

[Wolf River Hunter]

•Common soil mineral degrades the nearly indestructible prion published on Jan 14, 2009
In addition to being perhaps the weirdest infectious agent know to science, the prion is also the most durable. It resists almost every method of destruction from fire and ionizing radiation to chemical disinfectants and autoclaving, which reduce prion infectivity but fail to completely eliminate it. Now, however, a team of Wisconsin researchers has found that a common soil mineral, an oxidized from of manganese known as birnessite, can penetrate the prion's armor and degrade the protein.

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_inform ... d_news.jsp

[Dan Salmon]

And there you have it, Thanks!

[retiredsailor]

Dan:  Thanks for up bringing this topic. (It is becoming a major concern for more and more of us.) It needs to be understood and discussed by us, especially deer hunters.

Wolf:  Many thanks for the educational update. I'm happy to hear that there is some serious effort underway to attack CWD.