The Generative Brain

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), including the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Ames

APHIS is the animal and plant health agency of the US Department of Agriculture. For prion disease it is the federal body that runs national BSE surveillance in cattle and the farmed deer and elk CWD programme, sets which CWD tests count as official, and confirms suspect animal cases at its National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. It also funds state, tribal and university CWD work, including the Colorado State University and University of Minnesota prion groups. Its staff co-authored animal prion papers that matter for human genetic disease, most notably the 2008 description of an H-type BSE cow carrying E211K, the bovine counterpart of human E200K. APHIS handles animals only; human CJD surveillance in the US sits elsewhere. Information only, not medical or veterinary advice.

Key facts

  • APHIS states that WOAH rates the US as negligible risk for BSE, and that the US had seven BSE cases from 2003 to 2023: one classical case in 2003 in a cow imported from Canada and six atypical cases, the latest in 2023.
  • APHIS describes atypical BSE as arising spontaneously at a low rate and not linked to feed, citing a 2015 WOAH decision, while classical BSE spreads through contaminated feed; it shares the feed and specified risk material controls with USDA FSIS and the FDA.
  • The APHIS BSE surveillance programme targets cattle with signs of BSE and cattle aged 30 months or more that are non-ambulatory or cannot rise or walk unaided.
  • In August 2018 NVSL confirmed atypical H-type BSE in a six year old Florida beef cow first flagged by the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, a National Animal Health Laboratory Network lab; the animal never entered slaughter channels.
  • An ARS scientist at the National Animal Disease Center and an NVSL colleague reported in 2008 an H-type BSE case in an Alabama cow carrying a new E211K prion gene variant, the bovine match to human E200K.
  • Under 9 CFR 55.8, official CWD tests are histology and protease resistant prion protein methods (immunohistochemistry or western blot) run to NVSL protocols, plus other tests the APHIS Administrator approves on data for reproducibility, sensitivity and specificity; APHIS also approves the state, federal and university labs that run them.
  • The national CWD Herd Certification Program for farmed cervids began in 2014; in FY 2020 it covered 28 states, 2,145 enrolled herds and 1,723 certified herds, and 22 new CWD positive farmed herds were found that year.
  • A 2022 study co-authored by NVSL and APHIS Cervid Health Program staff said official US CWD surveillance rests on immunohistochemistry run at NVSL and that RT-QuIC was not yet approved for official farmed cervid surveillance.
  • In September 2024 APHIS Wildlife Services awarded USD 5.5 million for wild cervid CWD work, including USD 248,315 to the Colorado State University Prion Research Center, USD 250,000 to the University of Minnesota, and university awards for RT-QuIC and CRISPR based CWD assays.
  • A December 2024 student news report said MNPRO at the University of Minnesota received USD 483,497 from USDA APHIS for further CWD work.
  • An APHIS Veterinary Services scientist in Fort Collins co-authored the 2024 validation of rectal mucosa RT-QuIC for preclinical CWD in white-tailed deer (284 deer).

Timeline

  1. 2003First US BSE case, a classical case in a cow imported from Canada.
  2. 2008NVSL and NADC authors publish the H-type BSE case carrying E211K.
  3. 2014National CWD Herd Certification Program for farmed cervids begins.
  4. 2018APHIS announces NVSL confirmation of atypical H-type BSE in a Florida cow, the sixth US case.
  5. 2022APHIS co-authored study notes RT-QuIC not yet approved for official farmed cervid CWD surveillance.
  6. 2023Seventh US BSE case, atypical; the latest listed by APHIS.
  7. 2024APHIS co-authored rectal mucosa RT-QuIC validation in deer published.
  8. 2024Wild cervid CWD spending plan of USD 5.5 million published.
  9. 2024MNPRO APHIS award of USD 483,497 reported.
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