Source: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes two lab workers | Science | AAAS Five public research institutions in France have imposed a 3-month moratorium on the study of prions—a class of misfolding, infectious proteins that cause fatal brain diseases—after a retired lab worker who handled prions in the past was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the most common prion disease in humans. An investigation is underway to find out whether the patient, who worked at a lab run by the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), contracted the disease on the job. If so, it would be the second such case in France in the past few years. In June 2019, an INRAE lab worker named Émilie Jaumain died at age 33, 10 years after pricking her thumb during an experiment with prion-infected mice. Her family is now suing INRAE for manslaughter and endangering life; her illness had already led to tightened safety measures at French prion labs. . . . This is a good reason to throughly cook meat. The deer 'wasting' disease is another source. Bob Wilson
Cooking might work for those that ask for a charred puck. The sterilization guidelines during the mad cow break out involved undiluted bleach and autoclaving times of hours. Prions have "survived" washing and disinfecting with benzene, ethanol, and formaldehyde. Prion - Wikipedia Immerse in 1N sodium hydroxide and place in a gravity-displacement autoclave at 121 °C for 30 minutes; clean; rinse in water; and then perform routine sterilization processes. Immerse in 1N sodium hypochlorite (20,000 parts per million available chlorine) for 1 hour; transfer instruments to water; heat in a gravity-displacement autoclave at 121 °C for 1 hour; clean; and then perform routine sterilization processes. Immerse in 1N sodium hydroxide or sodium hypochlorite (20,000 parts per million available chlorine) for 1 hour; remove and rinse in water, then transfer to an open pan and heat in a gravity-displacement (121 °C) or in a porous-load (134 °C) autoclave for 1 hour; clean; and then perform routine sterilization processes. Best to also keep the equipment wet after contamination, as dry films are more resistant to the process. Even then, the above still aren't 100% effective.
Figures.... I switch to a mostly plant based diet, and now all of the norms are going to start getting killed off. Time to start eating meat again.
It has been some time since they were in the news. United Kingdom BSE outbreak - Wikipedia That's part of the reason for the out of country questions asked when giving blood. Prions are misfolded proteins. When they come in contact with the normal protein, the good one gets misfolded. Once out of shape, proteins can't do their job.
Do you remember the Mad Cow disease outbreak in the UK several decades ago, which killed a lot of people? I never heard of cooking meat successfully making it safe from this.
^ Foot fungus? I remember having to wait a significant amount of time after my last deployment before I was able to donate blood again (I'm O-neg) and they were always very exited about my years in Scotland back when I was knocking holes in the ocean....
Sounds like she was there for the foot-and-mouth outbreak. That's a viral infection of hoofed animals. Would not infect people, but is very easily passed around. Walk through a field with sick animals, and your shoes will carry it to other farms. 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak - Wikipedia edit-left out a not
To my recollection the "France restriction' has been added recently: General Blood & Platelet Donor Guidelines | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center == (Cervid) chronic wasting disease got a lot of media a few years back. Here is one more recent: Testing for chronic wasting disease | AgriLife Today
