[Notanothertoo]

Prions are doubly terrifying because it's not a typical disease. From what I understand it's proteins folding in a different way that come into (the prions can be dead or alive) and the healthy proteins will take on the new form. It's scary because typical sterilization (high heat) for surgery does not work guarantee it and the heat required is not currently practical.

The shakes from that cannibals get are prions. I also though I saw a link to a subset of alzehimer cases but can't find it.

[spazrunaway]

Prions are basically immortal.

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surp...

"...in 1985 when the Colorado Division of Wildlife tried to eliminate CWD from a research facility by treating the soil with chlorine, removing the treated soil, and applying an additional chlorine treatment before letting the facility remain vacant for more than a year, they were unsuccessful in eliminating CWD from the facility."

There seems to be some kind of species barrier making it difficult for deer prions to infect humans, because people are certainly being exposed to it frequently, especially in areas like the midwest where CWD is rampant. But we're in deep trouble if that ever changes. Imagine people dying of CJD because deer peed in a field somewhere decades ago, the prions bound to the soil, then bound to a seed planted in the soil, then you ate whatever crop happened to be grown there. It'd be inescapable.