Christina M. Carlson Jay R. Schneider Christopher J. Johnson Justin J. Greenlee S. Jo Moore 2022 <div id="abstract" class="card"><div class="card-body bg-tertiary"><p>Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a naturally-occurring neurodegenerative disease of cervids. Raccoons (<i>Procyon lotor</i>) and meadow voles (<i>Microtus pennsylvanicus</i>) have previously been shown to be susceptible to the CWD agent. To investigate the potential for transmission of the agent of CWD from white-tailed deer to voles and subsequently to raccoons, we intracranially inoculated raccoons with brain homogenate from a CWD-affected white-tailed deer (CWD^Wtd) or derivatives of this isolate after it had been passaged through voles 1 or 5 times. We found that passage of the CWD^Wtd<span>&nbsp;</span>isolate through voles led to a change in the biologic behavior of the CWD agent, including increased attack rates and decreased incubation periods in raccoons. A better understanding of the dynamics of cross-species transmission of CWD prions can provide insights into how these infectious proteins evolve in new hosts.</p></div></div> application/pdf 10.3201/eid2804.210271 en Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Increased attack rates and decreased incubation periods in raccoons with chronic wasting disease passaged through meadow voles article