You are not logged in.
There was no topic about prions.
It is unlikely this topic will receive much attention, because this forum includes members with other interests.
However, the existence of prions as a health risk may become a concern in the future.
This topic will be available if that ever happens.
My reason for creating the topic ** now ** is that my Internet feed thought I'd like to know about the spread of prions in deer and related wild creatures in the United States, and now (regrettably) in other nations as well.
At this point (according to the article) the misfolded proteins have not spread to humans, but since humans eat wild deer, it is probably only a matter of time.
As a quick over simplification, prions (appear to be) normal proteins that have been folded incorrectly, but which have the unfortunate ability to persuade normal protein to misfold, so that the error condition propagates inside an organism, and the misfolded prions remain infectious long after the host dies.
The strategy that seems to have a chance of success is to find animals that survive or resist infection, and to encourage future generations of the resistant breed. Nature has been playing this game for millions of years, but in this case, due to the non-zero risk to humans, I'm grateful we have a small population who are attempting to learn as much as possible and to provide guidance for the small number of folks who might pay attention.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
This post is reserved for an index in the unlikely event a NewMars member might wish to add a post to the topic.
Terraformer review of topic: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 95#p229495
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
Carnivores are pretty resistant to prion disease, as you'd expect from animals that subsist on eating other animals. Some humans are resistsnt to BSE (mad cow disease), which is a good thing because the British government almost killed the country off in the 90s, something we ought to have had executions for. A single amino acid substitution seems to do the trick , though you have to be homozygous for the resistance allele in order to be fully protected; in heterozygotes, there seems to be a delaying effect, we've had people dying from BSE a decade or so afterwards.
Prions are nasty things. Good candidate though for the poison in a retelling of Sleeping Beauty IN SPACE! Suspended animation should slow the spread, and 100 years of medical advancement might be able to treat it...
Use what is abundant and build to last
Offline
Like button can go here