CWD UPDATE 80 October 6, 2006
A recent article in Science reported on the infectivity of saliva and blood from CWD infected animals. The article is available here.
The Journal of Infectious Diseases published an article reporting on a study of Colorado hunters in a 7 county area and the prevalence of CJD in the counties. In the counties, 75% of hunting licenses are issued locally, suggesting that resident hunters are the bulk of the folks buying them. The inspection of death certificates from 1979-2001 did not reveal any higher a rate of CJD in the population nor did CJD increase over time. This does not rule out the possibility of human infection but does indicate it is unlikely. The article can be found on the Internet.