As wildfires become larger and more frequent across North America, scientists are discovering that smoke can carry living microorganisms over long distances. But could wildfire smoke also transport the infectious misfolded proteins that cause chronic wasting disease (CWD)? At present, there is no evidence that wildfire smoke spreads CWD. Our research will investigate this question for the first time under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.
Key facts
- This research is being conducted entirely under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.
- There are no outdoor burns and no release of CWD prions into the environment.
- We do not currently know whether wildfire smoke can transport CWD prions—that is the scientific question this project is designed to answer.
- Regardless of the outcome, the findings will help improve wildlife management.
We are testing a new scientific hypothesis: that wildfires may transport prions from contaminated soil, plants, or animal remains into smoke, creating a previously unrecognized pathway for long-distance disease spread.
To investigate this possibility, we will conduct carefully controlled laboratory experiments that simulate wildfire conditions. We will burn materials known to contain or not contain CWD prions, collect the smoke produced during each experiment, and use highly sensitive laboratory tests to determine whether prions are present. We will also examine which types of materials and fire conditions are most likely to transport prions into the air. All experiments will be conducted in secure laboratory facilities using established biosafety procedures designed to prevent any release of material outside the laboratory.
This project brings together experts in wildlife health, fire science, molecular biology, spatial modeling, and science communication. By combining these perspectives, we aim to answer an important question at the intersection of climate change, wildfire, and wildlife disease: is there a currently unrecognized threat to the health of our deer herd?
Whether we detect prions in smoke or not, the results will have important implications. If prions can be transported in wildfire smoke, wildlife managers and public health officials may need to consider a new pathway for disease spread when planning surveillance and wildfire response. If they cannot, our findings will strengthen evidence that fire may help reduce environmental contamination.
Ultimately, this research will provide the first evidence needed to understand how increasing wildfire activity may influence the spread of CWD. The findings will help guide future research, inform wildlife and fire management, and support healthier ecosystems and communities in a changing climate.
There will be no test burns on the landscape. All experimental work will be done in a laboratory. Test burns will be conducted using a specialized piece of equipment called a tube furnace, which allows us to collect the smoke produced during the burn. Smoke samples will be tested for CWD prions using a laboratory-based test.
No. We are not modifying CWD in any way. Our goal is to determine whether CWD can spread in wildfire smoke under current conditions. Modifying CWD to increase its likelihood of spread would be counterproductive and would not help us determine whether there is a currently undiscovered risk to our deer populations.
Protecting people, wildlife, and the environment is our highest priority. Every stage of this research has been designed with multiple layers of containment and oversight to prevent any release of CWD prions outside the laboratory.
At the test burn experiment, we will use a controlled atmosphere tube furnace. This means we can test the air and aerosols going in and coming out to make sure that there are no CWD prions. This setup will be developed first with experimental blanks, then with known CWD-negative samples, to ensure the system is functioning properly before bringing in CWD-positive samples to test.
At the smoke testing stage, we will handle samples in a secure laboratory with restricted access. Within the lab, samples are processed exclusively within a piece of equipment called a biosafety cabinet. This cabinet controls airflow so that any air passing over the samples is filtered through a HEPA filter. Laboratory personnel wear lab coats, gloves, sleeve protectors, and shoe covers while working in the lab to ensure that they don’t carry any prions out of the lab on their clothing.
All waste/output generated from this work will go through our standard, extremely thorough decontamination protocols to ensure that no CWD prions leave the lab. We will work with operational experts while using these furnaces and with our institutional biosafety experts to develop and monitor these systems.
It’s true that we do know a lot about the ways CWD spreads: from deer-to-deer and from the environment-to-deer. Right now, wildlife management agencies track where and how much CWD is on the landscape through surveillance testing. This is a continuous process of collecting and testing samples from deer (often lymph nodes from animals that are harvested by hunters). Because wildlife management agencies don’t have unlimited resources, they prioritize areas for CWD surveillance based on what we know about its transmission, so places right next to known-infected locations are a higher priority.
We need to learn about potential new ways CWD can spread so surveillance can be targeted to the right places. For example, if we learn that CWD can be spread by wildfire smoke, we can increase surveillance efforts in locations more heavily affected by wildfire smoke in areas known to have CWD.
All samples for this project will come from known CWD-status animals and environmental samples provided by research partners under a specialized research permit.
This project is funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability’s Academic Venture Fund. The Atkinson Center is funded through a generous donation by the Atkinson family. You can read more about the award in this article published by the Cornell Chronicle.
If we learn that CWD prions can be aerosolized by fire and detected in smoke:
- Wildlife management agencies can modify their surveillance plans to prioritize areas more likely to be affected by wildfire smoke from fires originating in locations with CWD.
If we learn that CWD prions cannot be aerosolized by fire and detected in smoke:
- Controlled burns may be explored as a helpful tool to help reduce prion burden on the landscape.
No. Right now, we have no evidence that hunters should modify their behavior. Continue to follow all regulations for carcass movement and disposal to help prevent the spread of CWD. If you wish to have your deer tested for CWD, the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab can assist you in finding a participating diagnostic laboratory.
This work will not directly affect the deer herd. Hunters can help by being the eyes and ears for something unusual. Keep looking out for deer or moose that appear sick, are abnormally thin, or behave unusually, and report any observations to your local wildlife management agency (New York hunters can contact your DEC regional wildlife office or an Environmental Conservation Officer).
We welcome questions from the public! If your question isn’t answered here, please feel free to reach out to us at cwhl@cornell.edu and we will get back to you.