Vaccine Helps Prevent 'Mad-Cow-Like' Disease In Deer

A new vaccine created to fight an illness similar to "mad cow disease" in deer may also help protect lifestock and even humans from similar brain infections.

The vaccine works by preventing deer from becoming infected with an incurable brain disorder that's referred to as chronic wasting. The disease is oftentimes caused by mysterious infectious particles known as prions that go rouge, according to Health Day.

"Now that we have found that preventing prion infection is possible in animals, it's likely feasible in humans as well," said senior study investigator and neurologist Dr. Thomas Wisniewski, of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, in a news release.

Prion infections are thought to be responsible for a number of human diseases, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru and familial insomnia. In fact, this is one illness where they are certain of the related health cause.

For the study, reserachers gave five deer the vaccine, while another six received an inactive placebo. All of the deer where then exposed to prion-infected brain tissue.

After monitoring the deer for two years, researchers found that all deer who were given the placebo developed chronic wasting disease. While four given the infection took longer to develop the problem, a fifth deer was found to be infection free.

"Although our anti-prion vaccine experiments have so far been successful on mice and deer, we predict that the method and concept could become a widespread technique for not only preventing, but potentially treating many prion diseases," concluded  tudy investigator Fernando Goni, an associate professor at NYU Langone.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Vaccine.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).