I recently found out about the so-called prion diseases, which are incurable and fatal diseases that affect (a euphemism, the real word is destroy) the CNS and cause a rapid deterioration of mental and physical abilities.
There are many prion diseases, the two most famous are probably the mad cow disease (non-human mammals), and the Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) (for human mammals). Both are 100% fatal, and *no one* is known to have survived longer than 2.5 years after a CJD diagnosis. That’s the kind of stuff you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
Why are these diseases so deadly? I read that it has to do with abnormal proteins but that was way over my head.
EDIT : I have another question, can prion diseases be rightly called the most dangerous diseases known to man ?
Thanks;
In: Biology
I think you’re misunderstanding if you believe they’re 100% fatal. We don’t do a lot of looking for random proteins in people, so when we find a prion it’s most likely because someone died from it. It’s kind of like survivor bias.
It sounds like prions have benefits in the developing brain.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-good-side-prion-molecule-dangerous.html#:~:text=But%20now%20research%20is%20showing,in%20the%20Journal%20of%20Neuroscience.
More research is needed.
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