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When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

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Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#41

Post by developer2 »

metasean wrote: post #12

I first heard about prions and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease after getting a letter saying I may have been exposed. I had surgery after someone with CJD, but before that person died, was autopsied, and diagnosed. That was over a decade ago. So far no signs of it. I did make peace with the fact that I have a much higher probability of dying from it than the average American. The only substantivu changes in my life are: (a…

>> My family and I have had very frank discussion about death earlier than we would have otherwise.

It would benefit any family to have that discussion, even if both parents are in their 20s and there has been no "scare scenario". Many people die every single day due to unpredictable events, with no warning whatsoever. Unfortunately, too many people have never really pondered their mortality, leading them to be incapable of even considering what it would mean if man/woman/child died tomorrow. Having a sit-down meeting is likely to be brushed off as a "meh, it'll never actually happen to us".

Any one of us could be dead in the next 5 minutes. That's more reality than paranoia. The trick is to get to the point where you understand just how fleeting life is (you or a loved one might be gone any day now), but without letting it negatively control your life.

>> I did make peace with the fact that I have a much higher probability of dying from it than the average American

You should stop thinking that way. A decade past the initial scare, you're likely no more at risk than anyone else. You weren't given the disease, you were exposed to a small possibility of it. It's still the responsible thing to not donate blood or be an organ donor, but as far as your day-to-day life goes you should consider yourself squarely in the "average" category.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#42

Post by dnautics »

hdhzy wrote: post #35
touchofevil wrote: post #23

I did a bunch of research (googling) back in the late 90's or 2000s when the mad cow disease outbreak first happened mainly in England. I thought it was pretty terrifying and I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I read about Kuru all the way back then and the take away was that people shouldn't eat the brain and nervous tissue of other people or Kuru could result. But also it seemed that mad cow disease was o…

No-meat diet is not 100% prion-proof according to Wikipedia: > When researchers fed hamsters grass that grew on ground where a deer that died with chronic wasting disease (CWD) was buried, the hamsters became ill with CWD, suggesting that prions can bind to plants, which then take them up into the leaf and stem structure, where they can be eaten by herbivores, thus completing the cycle. It is thus possible that there…

of course, you can still get CJD/kuru genetically, sporadically, from bone marrow transplants, etc.

Also: fatal familial insomnia, but that is a dramatically different pathology and we don't know why it's different from CJD.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#43

Post by adrianN »

hdhzy wrote: post #35
touchofevil wrote: post #23

I did a bunch of research (googling) back in the late 90's or 2000s when the mad cow disease outbreak first happened mainly in England. I thought it was pretty terrifying and I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I read about Kuru all the way back then and the take away was that people shouldn't eat the brain and nervous tissue of other people or Kuru could result. But also it seemed that mad cow disease was o…

No-meat diet is not 100% prion-proof according to Wikipedia: > When researchers fed hamsters grass that grew on ground where a deer that died with chronic wasting disease (CWD) was buried, the hamsters became ill with CWD, suggesting that prions can bind to plants, which then take them up into the leaf and stem structure, where they can be eaten by herbivores, thus completing the cycle. It is thus possible that there…

Prions are nature's grey goo.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#44

Post by cookiecaper »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #37
mtw wrote: post #36

Can we view this as nature's mechanism to prevent cannibalism amongst species? Mad cow disease occurred when cattle were fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal

Why would nature care?

Cannibalism seriously threatens a species' survival. Risk of disease from eating same-species meat is a good way to stop it.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#45

Post by dnautics »

quantumhobbit wrote: post #8
YCode wrote: post #3

I understand prion diseases are rare and it's more likely I'll die in a car accident or something, but the persistence of prions is just a horrifying concept. Highly resistant to heat, radiation, proteases, enzymes... Basically if you've got a prion disease it's just a matter of time before they end you.

What would a cure for prion diseases even look like? Are prions targeted by the immune system at all? That to me is what is scary about them.

If we do devlop a cure for prion diseases, short of a biofilter in a transporter beam, it will probably be some sort of directed antibody that magically only recognizes prion form of the prion protein, sequesters it and prevents spread; and maybe if we're clever at molecular engineering, also recruits the body's natural capability to clear these proteins (insulin-degrading enzyme).

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#46

Post by s0rce »

dllthomas wrote: post #34
quantumhobbit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a cure for prion diseases even look like? Are prions targeted by the immune system at all? That to me is what is scary about them.

> What would a cure for prion diseases even look like? Well, I mean, in some way the prion behaves differently than its normal counterpart. A molecule that interacted with that in such a way as to destroy the prion would seem to be a cure, right? At least, if not otherwise too harmful...

Or bind with it such that it is now inert, refolded back to a proper configuration or label it for destruction by the immune system.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#47

Post by maxerickson »

adrianN wrote: post #43
hdhzy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No-meat diet is not 100% prion-proof according to Wikipedia: > When researchers fed hamsters grass that grew on ground where a deer that died with chronic wasting disease (CWD) was buried, the hamsters became ill with CWD, suggesting that prions can bind to plants, which then take them up into the leaf and stem structure, where they can be eaten by herbivores, thus completing the cycle. It is thus possible that there…

Prions are nature's grey goo.

I would put bacteria in that role and call them green goo.

One thing I find interesting is that gray goo would have to compete with bacteria for resources. I'm not sure that it would necessarily be easy.

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#48

Post by amelius »

dllthomas wrote: post #34
quantumhobbit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a cure for prion diseases even look like? Are prions targeted by the immune system at all? That to me is what is scary about them.

> What would a cure for prion diseases even look like? Well, I mean, in some way the prion behaves differently than its normal counterpart. A molecule that interacted with that in such a way as to destroy the prion would seem to be a cure, right? At least, if not otherwise too harmful...

Or how about a molecule that binds to the harmful part of the prion?

Re: When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged

#49

Post by maxerickson »

developer2 wrote: post #41
metasean wrote: post #12

I first heard about prions and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease after getting a letter saying I may have been exposed. I had surgery after someone with CJD, but before that person died, was autopsied, and diagnosed. That was over a decade ago. So far no signs of it. I did make peace with the fact that I have a much higher probability of dying from it than the average American. The only substantivu changes in my life are: (a…

>> My family and I have had very frank discussion about death earlier than we would have otherwise. It would benefit any family to have that discussion, even if both parents are in their 20s and there has been no "scare scenario". Many people die every single day due to unpredictable events, with no warning whatsoever. Unfortunately, too many people have never really pondered their mortality, leading them to be incap…

The other side of it is that you can't really prepare yourself for the sudden loss of a close relationship.

Having a life insurance policy sized to the needs of children is probably more beneficial than having a frank conversation with them.

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