Abstract: Chronic wasting disease — a prion disease affecting cervids: Many neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementias, among others, are caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain. These diseases affect not only humans, but also animals. Prion diseases are a particular group of diseases among neurodegenerative disorders that can manifest in epidemic proportions in livestock and wild animals. These are fatal neurological conditions caused by the misfolding of a physiologically generated protein, termed cellular prion protein or PrPC , to a pathological isoform referred to as PrPSc (Prusiner, 1991). The events leading to the formation of PrPSc are not fully understood at the molecular level; however, these processes are known to occur either stochastically, be favored by mutations in the prion protein gene (PRNP), or templated by exogenous PrPSc particles. Prion diseases have been observed in various mammals, including humans. In all cases, these diseases are characterized by the progressive degeneration of the brain, leading to alterations in behavior, weight loss, and ultimately culminating in death.