Aisnd

http://www.reddit.com/user/Aisnd

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Aisnd1 karma

  1. If my local farmer Brown sells me meat infected with prions and I eat it, am I necessarily screwed in about a few decades?

  2. Are there any other prions that infects something other than brain tissue?

  3. If I think of any other questions, may I ask more?

Aisnd1 karma

Thank you for answering my questions but I have some more if you're still willing.

  1. How can people be genetically resistant to getting certain prion diseases? Are their proteins shaped differently or something because if acid and extremely high temperatures are needed to take out prions, how does the body's immune system even stand a chance?

  2. What limits the growth of prions that it takes decades for one to get sick from it?

  3. Does prions ever interact with other organisms or viruses? Like a prion that can affect a land mammal does nothing on like let's say a fish? Or let's say you spray a bunch of prions on a bacteria and virus culture. Nothing happens right? I ask this question because apparently they found a virus infecting virus so I feel like anything's possible :P

  4. What makes research into prions so difficult that people can't figure out how they go from consumed meat into the brain?

  5. Could you explain the replication of prions like I'm a idiot :/ Right now my understanding and view on prions is poor and I think of them as a enzymes that molds other proteins into itself.

  6. Let's say you get a bunch of prions into an air can and spray them at me in the face and I inhale a lot of it. Again, am I screwed?

  7. How special are the physical aspects of the prions? Like are they more dense and heavier than your average protein or shaped more strangely?

  8. Are prions just basically like a random protein that mutated and just happened to be able to infect other because they just happened to be the perfect shape to be able to do so and can they "mutate"?

I'm sorry if this is a lot of questions, you don't have to answer them all. I'm just very curious cause a long time ago, I thought viruses were the smallest infecting agent one could get a disease from :/