In contrast to virtually all other sporadic human
prion diseases, in which PK-resistant Pr[P.sup.D] (resPr[P.sup.D]) electrophoretically separates into 3 major bands, VPSPr resPr[P.sup.D] characteristically separates into 5 bands.
Over the years, other
prion diseases have been identified in both humans and animals (Table 1).
"Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rapidly progressive, lethal neurodegenerative disease caused by aggregation of misfolded
prion proteins.
Despite a large number of information favoring infectious agent generated from the protein, the involvement of a slow virus or a nucleic acid in the
prion disease has not been ruled out [17-19].
Prion diseases cause brain damage that worsens rapidly over time and are invariably fatal.
"
Prion transmission risk from surgical instruments contaminated by skin
prions should be much lower than that of instruments contaminated by brain tissue."
He presented his research findings related to involvement of
Prions in Alzheimer's disease.
A related
prion illness is Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and it has been identified in deer, elk and moose in North America.
An easy-to-use diagnostic test would let doctors clearly differentiate
prion diseases from other brain maladies.