# Project 3A: CWD Prion Shedding and Environmental Contamination: Role in Transmission and Zoonotic

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2024 · $656,768

## Abstract

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emergent, highly transmissible, geographically expanding, prion 
disease of both wild and captive cervids. CWD is unique among prion diseases in its facile contagion and 
environmental persistence. Its expanding geographical range, combined with the increasing transport of 
animals and animal products, portend its continued expansion and diversification. The zoonotic potential of 
CWD remains poorly understood. CWD endemic areas interface cervids with livestock species and humans, 
posing obvious zoonotic risks that over time will increase. While it is known that strains of CWD exist, nothing
is known about the zoonotic potential of these strains. Work from our applicant group has shown that CWD infected cervids continually shed prions into the environment and that previously unrecognized environmental 
factors can influence the emergence of a dominant strain from a mixture. The ability to recognize the zoonotic 
potential of CWD strains is central to mitigating CWD transmission risk. The central hypothesis for work 
described here is that CWD strains evolve continuously due to a combination of both host and environmental 
factors. We will test this hypothesis by: i) determining the evolution and zoonotic impact of CWD strains in the
native cervid species; ii) leveraging our unique animal resources, expertise, and in vivo & in vitro
methodologies to assess environmental factors that alter CWD strain selection and evolution and iii) evaluate 
zoonotic potential of CWD strains by a complementary combination of in vitro amplification assays and 
animal transmission studies. The results will provide new information about this emergent transmissible prion 
disease and the risk it poses to humans and other species.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10798280
- **Project number:** 5P01AI077774-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** EDWARD Arthur HOOVER
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $656,768
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2008-08-15 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10798280

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10798280, Project 3A: CWD Prion Shedding and Environmental Contamination: Role in Transmission and Zoonotic (5P01AI077774-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10798280. Licensed CC0.

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