Nearly all organic material (like bacteria and viruses) is destroyed at temperatures above 60° Celsius. Some temperature resistant pathogens can survive slightly higher temperatures than this, but even the most hardy will be destroyed at temperatures above 150° Celsius.
But for prions these temperatures are hardly sufficient. They can survive being frozen, cooked, steamed, and even chemically treated with substances like formaldehyde and alcohol. Temperatures as high as 600° Celsius will not reliably kill them, and only in the 1000° Celsius range are they destroyed. At this temperatures, most *metals* will melt.
Why are prions so hard to destroy if they are chemically identical to the organic material inside our body already?
In: 351
You can’t destroy a crappy blueprint (misfolded protein). Bacteria, yes. Viruses, yes. They just don’t register on our defenses.
Bacteria:
White Blood Cell: Nope.
Misfolded Protein:
White Blood Cell: ……
I heard there was a santization step for prion infected ones but it’s pretty long.
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