# Prions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447 "2003-03-31T15:16:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chickendoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@chickendoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chickendoc)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447/1 "2003-03-31T15:16:54Z")

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Whats the word on prions? Any new developments? Are they indestructable proteins? Are they still considered to be like a virus? I haven’t heard much about them lately.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447/2 "2003-03-31T20:44:11Z")

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They’re not indestructible, but they are pretty tough. And they’re like a virus at least to the extent that they can’t reproduce outside of a host.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447/3 "2003-03-31T21:30:25Z")

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They’ve never been considered viruses, and are not. As you know, they cause bovine encephalopathy, aka Crutzfeld-Jacobs disorder, aka scapies.

They are proteins which are in everyone’s brain, but the protein, for some unknown cause, becomes deformed, and this protein is able to send out chemical messages which deform other like proteins.

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**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447/4 "2003-03-31T22:11:25Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \*  
> **They’ve never been considered viruses, and are not. As you know, they cause bovine encephalopathy, aka Crutzfeld-Jacobs disorder, aka scapies.**

That would be **Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease** and **scrapie**. And they’re not really synonymous. BSE is a cow disease, CJD is human and scrapies is found in sheep and goats. There’s also Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and elk, and Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy in, well, mink.

[This site](http://www.priondata.org/) seems to be keeping track of progress in the field.

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**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions/165447/5 "2003-03-31T23:46:05Z")

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Cecil speaks (just 2 years ago) on [What’s the story on prions, which supposedly cause mad cow disease?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010615.html)