Microbe

I went to Ang Mo Kio Library last sun and borrowed a book titled Microbe. Before this book, I have read other books about the description of pirons other than bacteria and viruses or parasites which are commonly known to cause diseases in humans.

Prion receives a name from this phrase as mentioned in the book. Proteinaceous infectious agent.

An example of a prion based disease will be mad cow disease which thankfully doesn't occur in Singapore yet. Little is known about pirons I guess as of now since a search in wikipedia reveals little of how prion manage to cause diseases in humans.

Prion is actually a protein present in our brain. However, if abnormal prions manage to enter our body for example with contact with patients afflicted with mad cow diseases, these abnormal prions can somehow twist the structure of the normal prions in our brains and caused them to become abnormal. These abnormal prions can kill brain cells and left plaques which are large clumps of abnormal prion proteins. The book describes the final appearance of abnormal prion "infected" brain as shards of glass in the brain. Under a microscope, one can see many holes in the brain. Patients can experience neurological defectslike for example sudden mood swings, sudden bursts of laughter, inability to walk. Ultimately, it leads to dementia and complete failure of nervous system and death.

What is unique about prions from bacteria and viruses is that it is able to multiply and reproduce without any genetic material. There is no DNA, RNA molecules and so on. It is just a normal amino acid or protein that we can easily acquire. And because of that, abnormal prions are hard to eradicate. It has been mentioned in the book that prions still remained infectious even though surgical tools that have been utilised on a prion "infected" patients are sterilised, autoclaved. Until the prion, autoclave treatment was able to kill every organism known. Besides, prions are tested for their strength too by exposing them to tons of radiation. As it happened, prions are not deactivated even after tons of radiation. Although prions are so strong and lethal, mad cow disease seems to be a less known disease than HIV.

Mysterious and scary isn't it?