3 ms·

Jeez don't even suggest that. If that shit jumped to humans we are fucked. I'd rather not imagine how that would look like in comparison to covid

dwohnitmok 6y ago
It already jumped to humans. Mad cow disease infects humans as well. The difference in infection levels is that mad cow disease is transmitted through ingestion, so the usual avenue for human-to-human transmission is cannibalism (see e.g. the outbreak of Kuru that resulted from ritual funerary cannibalism), which is rare. Animal-to-animal cannibalism in animal feed is more common.
- subsubzero 6y ago
  I wonder if fully cooked meat can also transmit this disease? I know its big deal eating tainted meat as all hunters are encouraged to have the meat tested before consumption. there have been alot of deer that have been shown to have this disease.
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    Fully cooked meat can also transmit prion-based diseases, because cooking isn't hot enough to destroy the prions. IIRC, you need 1500 degrees (Fahrenheit, I think). Your stove or grill isn't going to get you there, no matter how thoroughly you cook the meat.
    - seventytwo 6y ago
      Wouldn’t the deactivation temp depend on the prion?
      - ruined 6y ago
        Sure, but most prion diseases are confirmed to be resultant from various misfolding of a single protein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRNP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRNP
      - hinkley 6y ago
        Prions are why we use more disposable tools for surgeries instead autoclaving. Autoclaves aren’t hot enough to destroy the proteins.
- meowface 6y ago
  Theoretically, could someone weaponize prions? Perhaps there'd be no point if the same tactics would be more effective with a typical deadly pathogen (ebola or something), but in theory could a malicious actor take human/animal brains confirmed to have a prion disease and then mash up and aerosolize the brain matter? Or would it not be possible to get infected through inhalation?
Grazester 6y ago
I have not eaten a piece of Beef since the 90's when there was that madcow scare. I was also very particular about trying to eat meat that was cooked on the same surface as beef. Now I am not as neurotic. I was also the kid that stayed awake at night worrying about Ebola when there was an outbreak in Zaire in 1995 I think it was.
- yumraj 6y ago
  Genuinely curious, based on how you described yourself, if you’ll be getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
  - Grazester 6y ago
    I am not as paranoid an adult but CJD and Ebola scare the shit of me still. The survival rate of Covid-19 is higher than both Ebola and anything prion based so Covid-19 doesn't scare me as much. I will get the shot. Most of my family has already(medical profession). If my parents get Covid-19 they are as good as dead so I will be getting it for their sake also.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - yspeak 6y ago
      BTW not good as dead. My 92 year old relative with fiabetes and heart disease (heart attack and bypass survivor) survived Covid and covid related pneumonia. It does happen. And now there's the vaccine so get them that.
- hinkley 6y ago
  I stopped eating beef for a long time after that, then stayed away from ground beef for a lot longer. These days I eat gourmet burgers from time to time. The carbon footprint of beef is a disaster anyway. There are plenty of other reasons to stay away.
betwixthewires 6y ago
So, prions are like, a level of "life" below even viruses. They're not alive (and neither are viruses technically). They're essentially just misfolded proteins that when a cell attempts to break the protein apart and use it, it causes a problem in the enzymes that break the protein and forces them to replicate that protein. Mad cow disease was (is?) a prion disease. Since they're just proteins and not living creatures, even heating them doesn't kill them. They can't infect you like a virus or bacteria can, they basically all do the same thing, cause brain deterioration. They can't mutate to become more virulent, and they are spread through food consumption and usually caused by cannibalism. Whether a prion can damage cells in an animals brain depends on its DNA sequence and the enzymes their cells create to break apart certain proteins. We currently don't know if chronic wasting disease can hurt humans, and there are tons of prions all over the place all the time and you ingest them and most of them don't do anything bad to you. So there's no telling with CWD yet.

dwohnitmok 6y ago

It already jumped to humans. Mad cow disease infects humans as well. The difference in infection levels is that mad cow disease is transmitted through ingestion, so the usual avenue for human-to-human transmission is cannibalism (see e.g. the outbreak of Kuru that resulted from ritual funerary cannibalism), which is rare. Animal-to-animal cannibalism in animal feed is more common.

subsubzero 6y ago
I wonder if fully cooked meat can also transmit this disease? I know its big deal eating tainted meat as all hunters are encouraged to have the meat tested before consumption. there have been alot of deer that have been shown to have this disease.
- AnimalMuppet 6y ago
  Fully cooked meat can also transmit prion-based diseases, because cooking isn't hot enough to destroy the prions. IIRC, you need 1500 degrees (Fahrenheit, I think). Your stove or grill isn't going to get you there, no matter how thoroughly you cook the meat.
  - seventytwo 6y ago
    Wouldn’t the deactivation temp depend on the prion?
    - ruined 6y ago
      Sure, but most prion diseases are confirmed to be resultant from various misfolding of a single protein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRNP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRNP
    - hinkley 6y ago
      Prions are why we use more disposable tools for surgeries instead autoclaving. Autoclaves aren’t hot enough to destroy the proteins.
meowface 6y ago
Theoretically, could someone weaponize prions? Perhaps there'd be no point if the same tactics would be more effective with a typical deadly pathogen (ebola or something), but in theory could a malicious actor take human/animal brains confirmed to have a prion disease and then mash up and aerosolize the brain matter? Or would it not be possible to get infected through inhalation?

Grazester 6y ago

I have not eaten a piece of Beef since the 90's when there was that madcow scare. I was also very particular about trying to eat meat that was cooked on the same surface as beef. Now I am not as neurotic. I was also the kid that stayed awake at night worrying about Ebola when there was an outbreak in Zaire in 1995 I think it was.

yumraj 6y ago
Genuinely curious, based on how you described yourself, if you’ll be getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
- Grazester 6y ago
  I am not as paranoid an adult but CJD and Ebola scare the shit of me still. The survival rate of Covid-19 is higher than both Ebola and anything prion based so Covid-19 doesn't scare me as much. I will get the shot. Most of my family has already(medical profession). If my parents get Covid-19 they are as good as dead so I will be getting it for their sake also.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - yspeak 6y ago
    BTW not good as dead. My 92 year old relative with fiabetes and heart disease (heart attack and bypass survivor) survived Covid and covid related pneumonia. It does happen. And now there's the vaccine so get them that.
hinkley 6y ago
I stopped eating beef for a long time after that, then stayed away from ground beef for a lot longer. These days I eat gourmet burgers from time to time. The carbon footprint of beef is a disaster anyway. There are plenty of other reasons to stay away.

betwixthewires 6y ago

So, prions are like, a level of "life" below even viruses. They're not alive (and neither are viruses technically). They're essentially just misfolded proteins that when a cell attempts to break the protein apart and use it, it causes a problem in the enzymes that break the protein and forces them to replicate that protein. Mad cow disease was (is?) a prion disease. Since they're just proteins and not living creatures, even heating them doesn't kill them. They can't infect you like a virus or bacteria can, they basically all do the same thing, cause brain deterioration. They can't mutate to become more virulent, and they are spread through food consumption and usually caused by cannibalism. Whether a prion can damage cells in an animals brain depends on its DNA sequence and the enzymes their cells create to break apart certain proteins. We currently don't know if chronic wasting disease can hurt humans, and there are tons of prions all over the place all the time and you ingest them and most of them don't do anything bad to you. So there's no telling with CWD yet.