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France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

sciencemag.org

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Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#2
The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of a prion disease. After several cases of exposure across the world, France decided to block prion research for 3 months to try to study the issue.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#3
post #2

The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of a prion disease. After several cases of exposure across the world, France decided to block prion research for 3 months to try to study the issue.

They are going to stop studying so they can start studying the issue? Ah well, this is the level of ‘science’ we’ve come to expect in the pandemic.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#4
post #3
post #2

The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of a prion disease. After several cases of exposure across the world, France decided to block prion research for 3 months to try to study the issue.

They are going to stop studying so they can start studying the issue? Ah well, this is the level of ‘science’ we’ve come to expect in the pandemic.

No, they're gonna stop studying until they have reviewed all the security protocols regarding the handling of prions, and this, nationwide.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#5
From Wikipedia [1]:

« Prions are misfolded proteins with the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several atal and transmissible neuro degenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It is not known what causes the normal protein to misfold, but the abnormal three-dimensional structure is suspected of conferring infectious properties, collapsing nearby protein molecules into the same shape. […] There are no effective treatments for prion diseases. »

Basically, you get infected, you die. See also [2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion

[2]: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/prions-ar...

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#6
> She had not been trained in handling dangerous prions or responding to accidents and did not wear both metal mesh and surgical gloves, as she was supposed to, says Julien Bensimhon, the family’s lawyer. The thumb should have been soaked in a bleach solution immediately, which did not happen, Bensimhon adds.

Does bleach even affect proteins? Isn't that protocol for an organism you're afraid of?

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#7
post #6

> She had not been trained in handling dangerous prions or responding to accidents and did not wear both metal mesh and surgical gloves, as she was supposed to, says Julien Bensimhon, the family’s lawyer. The thumb should have been soaked in a bleach solution immediately, which did not happen, Bensimhon adds. Does bleach even affect proteins? Isn't that protocol for an organism you're afraid of?

yes, bleach kills microorganisms by denaturing their proteins.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#8
post #6

> She had not been trained in handling dangerous prions or responding to accidents and did not wear both metal mesh and surgical gloves, as she was supposed to, says Julien Bensimhon, the family’s lawyer. The thumb should have been soaked in a bleach solution immediately, which did not happen, Bensimhon adds. Does bleach even affect proteins? Isn't that protocol for an organism you're afraid of?

Hypochlorous acid denatures proteins, so yeah.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#9
The study of rare, contagious diseases seems likely enough to result in an eventual outbreak that it should be treated like enriching uranium.

Which is to say, with great caution- and not like regular science but rather like the kind of science with potentially very negative externalities.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#10
post #3
post #2

The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of a prion disease. After several cases of exposure across the world, France decided to block prion research for 3 months to try to study the issue.

They are going to stop studying so they can start studying the issue? Ah well, this is the level of ‘science’ we’ve come to expect in the pandemic.

Yes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them.

Its not rocket science.

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