Prions are protein particles responsible for various activities, such as the maturation of neurons. However, they can become pathogenic, causing chronic and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, leaving such regions with a sponge-like appearance when observed under a microscope. Transmission can be infectious or hereditary; not causing immune or inflammatory responses in the affected individual.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, is a prion disease that affects cattle. With a very rapid evolution after the onset of symptoms, these animals usually do not survive for more than six months. Difficulty in walking and nervousness are the main observable manifestations.
It is believed that the genesis of this disease is in the supply of feed for these animals containing sheep carcasses without proper heating, as was done in the 70s and 80s. How likely some of these specimens would be infected by Scrapie (another prion disease); and because less than a gram of material from the nervous system is enough to infect a single individual, this is the most widely accepted hypothesis to date.
A disease caused by prions whose symptoms are similar to mad cow disease and that affects individuals of our species is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). This, transmitted through blood transfusions, contact with contaminated surgical instruments, genetic inheritance or sporadic onset; it causes walking difficulties and progressive dementia and is often confused with senile dementia or Alzheimer's. Its annual incidence is one case in every two million people and usually leads to death in less than one year after the onset of symptoms.
The new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, is related to the consumption of beef or its derivatives contaminated by spongiform encephalopathy. With an incubation period shorter than the previous one, ie: affecting young individuals, the symptomatic manifestations are similar.
To date, none of these diseases is detectable at an early stage and, after the onset of symptoms, what can be seen are changes in the region of the central nervous system by means of MRI and computed tomography, but which are similar to other neurological diseases degenerative. Thus, only analyzing the cerebral material under a microscope, after death, can a confirmatory diagnosis be made.
Because prion diseases are incurable, treatment is aimed at delaying and controlling symptoms.
THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH WARNS:
Self-medication can have unwanted and unanticipated effects, as the wrong medicine not only does not cure, it can worsen your health.
By Mariana Araguaia
Graduated in Biology
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/doencas/doenca-vaca-louca.htm
