Prions are scary as hell. Can I become infected with a prion from drinking bone broth (chicken, beef or lamb) or are the risks about the same as eating a cheeseburger from McDonald’s?
In: Biology
Prions can be transmitted in a number of ways, including:
* Eating contaminated meat: Prion diseases can be transmitted by eating meat that is contaminated with prions, such as beef from cows infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as “mad cow disease”.
* Organ transplants: Prions can be transmitted through organ transplants.
* Contaminated equipment: Prions can be transmitted through exposure to contaminated equipment during surgery, such as neurosurgical instruments.
* Blood transfusions: Prions can be transmitted through blood transfusions, but this is rare.
* Cannibalism: Prions can be transmitted through cannibalism, as in kuru.
* Saliva, urine, and feces: Prions can be transmitted through saliva, urine, and feces.
* Placental tissues: Prions can be transmitted through placental tissues, which can contaminate the environment during lambing season.
Prion diseases are not contagious like the flu or a cold, but they can spread between organisms. Caregivers can take precautions to reduce the risk of spreading prions, such as washing hands and covering cuts or abrasions.
I’d preface this statement with a no but yes, just like getting a 210 degree coffee split in your lap, you’re chances are less than a plane crash.
Lets talk statistics
Being struck by lightning:
About 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the United States each year. But the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are **less than one in a million**, and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims
So that’s <1:1,000,000
Chances of being in a fatal car accident:
around 1 in 93. What Are the Odds of Dying in a Car Accident? According to recent data, the odds of dying in a car crash are around **1 in 93**. This makes car crashes one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Cited Apr 18, 2024
Here are the current data results on Prions:
Prion diseases are rare, affecting about one person in a million worldwide each year. In the United States, about 350 cases are diagnosed annually. Prion diseases are a group of conditions that affect the brain and nervous system. They can cause severe dementia or problems with body control that worsen quickly. Symptoms can develop suddenly and you can have prions for many years before noticing any symptoms.
So lets do this math.
you, as a human have a 1 in 1 million chance of being stuck by lightning, and a 1 in 93 chance of being in a fatal accident. You also have a 1 in a Million chance of being struck by a prion disease. So you’re just as likely to be struck by lighting as be struck by a prion.
So the preface of this is: you have the same-ish chance of being struck by lightning, as contracting a prion disease.
You are more likely to be stuck by lightning, AND hit by a car before prion transmission.
Edit: well it looks like correct info in ELI5 is looked down upon. I’m sorry i provided succinct info you all hated, i guess my bad?
It takes insanely high temps to destroy prions, in theory yes. That being said, they’re only a problem if you eat the brains of an infected deer/moose/elk/cow, maybe a few other species. It’s very rare, and isn’t likely to happen from any store bought meat.
You’re no more likely to get a prion from bone broth compared to most other common meats. Prions are extremely rare, especially in commercial meat where they check regularly for that.
Yes, if you’re referring to the mad cow disease prion only way to destroy it is to burn it. If the meat still is there so is it. But it’s extremely rare now and watched for in cows. Prions are just misfolded proteins that act like the birds from Nemo saying hi. One says hi and the others start to as well. You could just get one by a protein misfolding in just the right way which is incredibly unlikely like mofe unlikely then a powerball winner unlikely. The man way to acquire one is consuming material already contaminated. Usually meat. Even then it’s not a garuntee the prion could infect you. Has to be protein your body uses. Why cannibalism is one of the easier ways to catch a prion disease cause human flesh has all the same proteins you use. Whereas there’s research showing chronic wasting disease that infects deer might not be able to make the species jump to humans.
Can you? Yes. Will you? No.
I still think the most common for humans is Creutzfeld-Jakob and that’s only from people that live on farms and prepare their own cattle. Even then, it’s still rare to hear about.
Certainly you could as heat isn’t going to destroy prions. That said no ever has ever gotten a prion disease in the US. You are much more likely to die of something much more mundane. So it’s a bit like worrying about a unicorn attack in a field full of cows. You really should be worrying about the cows not hypothetical unicorns.
It’s so unlikely it’s not even worth concerning yourself with. You can’t fear that a satellite will fall from the sky and land on you every time you step outside.
Prion diseases have an extraordinarily long incubation period. The time it takes from being infected to experiencing symptoms can range from a few years to an entire lifespan. It’s only diagnosable after death via autopsy.
You’re more like to catch or develop basically every other illness in existence when compared to a prion disease.
As for restricting meat to prevent it, prion diseases can and often do spontaneously present themselves for quite literally no reason. This isn’t to make you scared – it’s to demonstrate that your fear is unwarranted and ultimately pointless
Death is coming for us all, regardless of the choices we make. Be wise and make good choices, but draw the line at insulating yourself from all potential risk so that you might actually find some joy in life.
Yes. You cannot kill them. They will live on plants and soil for 10+ years simply by an infected animal pissing them out. Medical autoclaves that sterilize tools for surgery cannot kill prions. Its kind of pretty scary shit if it gets around.
Prions are tiny, harmful things that can make animals and people very sick. But don’t worry—drinking bone broth from cows, chickens, or lambs is very safe if the animals are healthy. Eating a cheeseburger is also safe, as long as the meat comes from healthy animals.
In principle you could. But you are worrying way too much about something that is incredibly unlikely to ever effect you. All prion diseases in the U.S., including genetic and spontaneous conversion make up something like 300 cases a year. I assume you live in the U.S. and the USDA watches for mad cow disease very very very closely. At present there is none here and has not been for years. This is not something you should really spend time worrying about. I could give you some more practical things to worry about if you like, prions would not be one of them. Other prions that exist such as CWD and Scrapie do not infect humans.
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