Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada • Hacker News Board

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#131

Post by throwaway316943 » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #120

throwaway316943 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bet is on either bacterial or agricultural source contaminating well water.

Why do you think that, and what do you mean by "agricultural source"?

Well water contamination is common and people are increasingly neglecting to test on a regular schedule. One of the symptoms listed is gastrointestinal upset which makes me think it could be something that was ingested. They mention that Roger’s condition has stabilized now that he’s in a care home, tenuous but it seems location change resulted in change in progression of symptoms. By agricultural I mean waste from livestock.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#132

Post by ed25519FUUU » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:23 PM UTC

stuff4ben wrote: post #104

stormdennis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many countries would not allow people who lived in the UK during the 80s and 90s to give blood. I ate so many burgers back then too. Our kids after they were born weren't allowed beef for years.

Yep I'm one of them. Lived in the UK in the early 80's as a child. Gave blood for the first time when I was in college in the 90's to the Red Cross here in the US, and they mailed me back saying to never give blood again but didn't specify a reason. It wasn't until a few years later that I found out why. And the fact I might have a prion disease lurking in my blood sometimes terrifies me.

Is there a blood test for that?

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#133

Post by HDMI_Cable » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:33 PM UTC

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #124

Xcelerate wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had read this before. It's horrifying. How do you stop the chain reaction of proteins folding into lower energy states? It's not like a bacteria or virus; it's more like ice-nine, except instead of water it's your brain.

Prions aren’t new, they’re probably as old as proteins- and they haven’t ice-nined the world yet.

To be fair, neither did ice-nine until somebody decided to eat it.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#134

Post by dennis_jeeves » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:34 PM UTC

dcolkitt wrote: post #125

codingbeer wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever a topic about something that could potentially destroy humanity comes up (say, climate issues), there is always some comment that makes a reasonable argument of why things are not as bad as they seem. This never happens when prions are the topic.

The simplest counterpoint to prion cataclysm fear is that it hasn't happened yet. That implies a low chance that it'll happen anytime in the near future. There's no evidence that any significant human population has ever been wiped out by prions at any point in the history of the species. Heck, we haven't even observed widespread (>10% infected) prion disease in any species. At least with something like climate chang…

>I don't see any justification for why humanity in 2021 is courting prion disaster to a greater degree than it was in 2000 BC.

Because the 'scientific' community need to keep their jobs. You know they too have mortgages to pay...

So... point being there is endless stream of fear mongering (some of which ends up being true) to justify their existence.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#135

Post by psyc » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:36 PM UTC

callamdelaney wrote: post #55

There was some research which suggested that a not insignificant number of dementia cases were actually misdiagnosed mad cow disease. Because CJD can stick around for a while without taking affect, I wouldn't be surprised.

This is a running gag for William Shatner’s character in Boston Legal.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#136

Post by giantg2 » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:36 PM UTC

throwaway316943 wrote: post #96

giantg2 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, there is some good news. Many types of prions diseases do not spread from animals to humans (so far). There have been some studies around this with CWD, but also Scapie has been around for hundreds or even thousands of years and never made the jump. Even in areas with CWD, we see that herd numbers do typically rebound. It's believed that there is some genetic factor that prevents the onset of the symptoms,…

Not to be a doomer but there are scenarios where neither genetic variation nor research would solve the problem. The correct mix of virality, incubation and lethality would do it. Pneumonic plague is terrifyingly close. I wish there was a bigger interest and investment in biology, I think it’s the only viable path forward for humanity.

I was just discussing prions. Other pathogens do seem to present a bigger risk. I don't think anything would have 100% kill rate. Even weaponized microbes have like 99.8% or something. That still leaves about 16 million people. Plus there's all those preppers with their bunkers, some uncontacted tribes, people who live in isolated areas. Then it becomes more of a matter of how to organize, do they have the knowledge to survive in those types of conditions, etc. The species will survive, but it will be a very different world.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#137

Post by HDMI_Cable » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

callamdelaney wrote: post #55

There was some research which suggested that a not insignificant number of dementia cases were actually misdiagnosed mad cow disease. Because CJD can stick around for a while without taking affect, I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm not a neurologist but maybe some of the prions from Mad Cow Disease can further the progression of dementia?

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#138

Post by thatguy0900 » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:44 PM UTC

regularfry wrote: post #36

medstrom wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as you induce it consensually, right? It sure would be uncomplicated, no real third party needed.

That... wouldn't work. Consent must be continually given, and for Capgras to work you can't be aware it's a delusion at the time you're experiencing it.

I think the idea is that if you wanted to spice up a marriage with an affair, you could use this to "cheat" on your spouse with your spouse. Both parties would be consenting the whole time. One would just think they are cheating.

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#139

Post by anthony_romeo » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

In other Prion news, there's a prion disease, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), affecting populations of wild Deer, Elk, etc. in North America and other chunks of the world. It's not yet known to infect people, but please be careful when eating wild game. [1]

My mind first went to this issue when I read the headline, though upon reading the article it's probably something else, as CWD isn't really a thing in that region [it's more of a Mountain state kind of thing thing]. And, of course, I'm not a prion expert, so I only vaguely know what I'm writing about.

[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutriti...

Re: Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

#140

Post by ben_w » Wed, May 05, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

fao_ wrote: post #97

giantg2 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bleach works as surface decontamination agent. They know it works for CWD, and I expect it works for others too.

> Bleach works as surface decontamination agent. They know it works for CWD, and I expect it works for others too. I remember reading that nothing but incineration would work in the context of Food-and-Mouth disease, but it seems modern techniques in brain surgery do use bleach. Interesting. Essentially, the only thing that works is disintegrating the prions. You can't wash them off, since you're simply washing them…

Foot-and-Mouth disease has a vaccine. I believe burning was for economic reasons: vaccination is expensive; the reproductive cycle (and by extension the population) is essentially human-controlled and the livestock population can recover quickly; and "we don't need to vaccinate" increases livestock sales.