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Originally posted by LittleOne

... I'm glad the disease really hasn't spread much ...

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Originally posted by Kurt

On a different note a friend from Cornwall was saying the trouble in England started when the processors for animal feeds decided to save money by not cooking the feed to as high a temperature to save fuel. I haven't found any references to what that temperature should be. To destroy the possibility of Lyme disease, cook venison to an internal temperature of 170 degrees Farenheight.

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Important Tool for Fighting Chronic Wasting

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 21, 2003

Digester a cost saver in move to eradicate deer disease

By TIM EISELE Special to the Journal Sentinel

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Madison -- The newest tool in the fight against chronic wasting disease is a brand new tissue digester, housed at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

"The digester is the most proven and safe way of inactivating CWD prions and disposing of tissues that are infected with those prions," said Robert Shull, director of the veterinary laboratory.

Shull said that the digester will also come in handy for future disease surveillance activity. Besides chronic wasting disease, it could be used to destroy tissue from any intentional or accidental introduction of foreign animal diseases in the state.

"The primary use is to get rid of materials that we know or suspect might be infectious," Shull said.

Currently, there are only 30 tissue digesters available, most in North America, but this is the first mobile, large-scale digester in the nation. It is built on a trailer that can be trucked to the site of disease outbreaks around the state or the upper Midwest.

Gordon Kaye, chairman of Waste Reduction by Waste Reduction, Inc., the Indianapolis company that built the digester, described it as a giant version of, "your mother's pressure cooker filled with lye."

The digester is a heated-pressurized vessel that breaks down infectious microorganisms and prions into a sterile solution of amino acids, sugars and soaps.

During a test of the digester using dead cows, a small crane hoisted a 1,000-pound cow and lowered it into a large stainless steel tank. The crane put two more cows in the tank, and then the huge lid was secured, chemicals and water were added and the boilers started up.

The result was that the cows -- hoofs, hide, bones and all -- were soon reduced to little more than a sterile slurry.

Kaye said that the residue can go into any sewage treatment system. The digester destroys all infective prions, viruses or bacteria, including brucellosis and tuberculosis, he said.

The digester uses heat and caustic chemicals, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, circulated through the 8-foot diameter tank to reduce animal tissues and microorganisms to a thick broth that can be safely transported to the sanitary sewer system. It can hold 4,000 pounds and the process of heating and digesting the materials takes about 6 hours.

"Earlier, it was thought the prion was resistant to most standard disinfecting agents," Kaye said. "But it has been shown over a period of years that a combination of heat and alkali could destroy the infectivity."

Kaye believes this is the "gold standard" method to destroy prions. He hopes to receive approval soon from the European Union to use similar digesters to destroy materials infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (known as Mad Cow Disease).

Laurie Osterndorf, administrator of the Division of Land for the Department of Natural Resources, said that the digester

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Originally posted by Kurt

Thanks, Scott. So the study is of not of use for those who prepare cow, sheep, or deer for consumption then?

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