IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v2y2011i1d10.1038_ncomms1203.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Soil clay content underlies prion infection odds

Author

Listed:
  • W. David Walter

    (United States Geological Survey, Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit)

  • Daniel P. Walsh

    (Wildlife Research Center)

  • Matthew L. Farnsworth

    (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Veterinary Services, Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health)

  • Dana L. Winkelman

    (United States Geological Survey, Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit)

  • Michael W. Miller

    (Wildlife Research Center)

Abstract

Environmental factors—especially soil properties—have been suggested as potentially important in the transmission of infectious prion diseases. Because binding to montmorillonite (an aluminosilicate clay mineral) or clay-enriched soils had been shown to enhance experimental prion transmissibility, we hypothesized that prion transmission among mule deer might also be enhanced in ranges with relatively high soil clay content. In this study, we report apparent influences of soil clay content on the odds of prion infection in free-ranging deer. Analysis of data from prion-infected deer herds in northern Colorado, USA, revealed that a 1% increase in the clay-sized particle content in soils within the approximate home range of an individual deer increased its odds of infection by up to 8.9%. Our findings suggest that soil clay content and related environmental properties deserve greater attention in assessing risks of prion disease outbreaks and prospects for their control in both natural and production settings.

Suggested Citation

  • W. David Walter & Daniel P. Walsh & Matthew L. Farnsworth & Dana L. Winkelman & Michael W. Miller, 2011. "Soil clay content underlies prion infection odds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1203
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1203
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms1203?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Trevor J. Hefley & Mevin B. Hooten & Ephraim M. Hanks & Robin E. Russell & Daniel P. Walsh, 2017. "The Bayesian Group Lasso for Confounded Spatial Data," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 22(1), pages 42-59, March.
    2. Bondo, Kristin J. & Rosenberry, Christopher S. & Stainbrook, David & Walter, W. David, 2024. "Comparing risk of chronic wasting disease occurrence using Bayesian hierarchical spatial models and different surveillance types," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 493(C).
    3. Swire, Eleanor & Colchester, Alan, 2023. "Out of sight, out of mind? BSE 30 years on: continuing environmental risks to human health," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1203. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.