Diagnosis is based on post mortem examination (necropsy) and testing; examination of the dead body is not definitive, as many animals die early in the course of the<unk>  and conditions found are nonspecific; general signs of poor health and aspiration pneumonia, which may be the actual cause of death, are common. On microscopic examination, lesions of<unk>  in the CNS resemble those of other TSEs. In addition, scientists use immunohistochemistry to test brain, lymph, and neuroendocrine tissues for the presence of the abnormal prion protein to diagnose<unk> ; positive IHC findings in the obex is considered the gold standard. Conventional<unk>  diagnostic strategies and seeded amplification methods for amplifying<unk>  prions in vitro include: immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blotting (WB), enzyme immunoassay (EIA), protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), and real time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC). Available tests, as of July 2019, at the CFIA were not sensitive enough to detect the prion in specimens from animals younger than a year old. Strategies are being developed to allow for the quantification of prion burden in a tissue, body fluid, or environmental sample. As of 2015, no commercially feasible diagnostic tests could be used on live animals. As early as 2001 an antemortem test was deemed urgent. Running a bioassay, taking fluids from animals in the deer family suspected of infection and incubating them in transgenic mice that express the cervid prion protein, can be used to determine whether the cervid is infected, but ethical issues exist with this, and it is not scalable. A tonsillar biopsy technique has been a reliable method of testing for<unk>  in live deer, but it only seems to be effective on mule deer and white-tailed deer, not elk. Biopsies of the rectal mucosa have also been effective at detecting<unk>  in live mule deer, white-tailed deer, and elk, though detection efficacy may be influenced by numerous factors including animal age, genotype, and<unk>  stage. It is possible for<unk>  prions to survive sterilization procedures involving an autoclave.
Chronic wasting disease
Chronic critical illness
Protein–energy malnutrition
Infection-induced anorexia
Renal osteodystrophy
Protein poisoning
Water intoxication
Nutritional challenges of HIV/AIDS