Scientists: "The universe of possible prions could be much larger than we thought"

[The Sentinel]

Earlier this year we issued an alert relating to a new form of rapid onset prion disease emerging in USA. Recent infectious prion research suggests that cross-species transmission occurs much more readily than previously thought and results in the emergence of new forms of prion disease.

From the article:

Scientists wonder if the prion-induced chronic wasting disease (CWD), which afflicts elk and deer in the US, could jump to humans. Since prion diseases have long dormant periods, the fact that there are no human cases of CWD doesn't necessarily indicate that people won't develop symptoms in the future.

...

There are multiple possible shapes that cause health problems. In the study, the new prions caused disease within different time frames, affected different areas of the brain, and showed different resistance to protein-digesting enzymes compared with the original strains. This suggests that new kinds of prion, with potentially differing characteristics, can be born every time a misfolded prion protein lands in a new species.