It's only 3 months, sounds like the right thing to do for now.
France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes
301–305 of 305 posts
Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes
#302Hm: "long period of uncertainty began on 31 May 2010, when she stabbed her left thumb with a curved forceps while cleaning a cryostat—a machine that can cut tissues at very low temperatures—that she used to slice brain sections from transgenic mice infected with a sheep-adapted form of BSE . She pierced two layers of latex gloves and drew blood" Later in the article: ""We conduct research only on mouse-adapted sheep…
Keep in mind that the researcher was only 23 years old at the time when the lab accident happened. In some ways, she was basically a kid. As everyone knows, she ended up dying because of this. A human has a fully developed adult brain around age 25, but for some people it is not until age 30 [1]. [1] https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/adult-brain?rebelltitem=1#re...
I used to mention this to my binge drinking buddies in college when they wanted me to kill more than a few brain cells with them. In general moderation in all things.
Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Prions aren't airborne. vCJD and mad cow spread by a feedback loop involving slaughtered infected animal brains being fed to the same animal stock. This case was a technician who stabbed herself with a tool heavily coated in brain matter from infected animals. It's not like a virus where just a few particles is enough to bootstrap an infection. At least, it's never been seen.
Prions can be airborne. > "Common knowledge is that prions aren't airborne, and can't cause infection that way," said neuropathologist Adriano Aguzzi of University Hospital Zurich, co-author of a study appearing today in PLoS Pathogens. "We were totally surprised and also a bit frightened at how efficient [airborne infections] were." https://www.wired.com/2011/01/airborne-prions-disease/
Prion diseases aren't airborne. Yes, you can aerosolize them mechanically and get them to infect mice in a lab. There has never been a known case of airborne transmission between two animals. The shed load just isn't remotely high enough, being a brain plaque and not a respiratory infection.
Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't prions reproduce by re-folding other proteins to match themselves?
they dont replicate.
Actually, they do. They refold normal proteins into more versions of themselves. I went and checked after this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion#Prion_replication
There is a complex dependence on forming fibres that makes them slow (long lead time to symptoms) and then fast (dead soon after getting sick).
Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this article, or another, said that probably applying disinfectant immediately would've been enough.
Prions are not affected by disinfectant
You think you know more about chemistry than...a lawyer?
"The thumb should have been soaked in a bleach solution immediately, which did not happen, [the family's lawyer] adds"