A prion primer

By biological and medical criteria, prions are infectious agents; however, many of their properties differ profoundly from those of conventional microbes. Prions are "encoded" by alterations in protein conformation rather than in nucleic acid or amino acid sequence. New epidemic prion dise...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Medical Association journal 1997-11, Vol.157 (10), p.1381-1385
Main Author: Cashman, N. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disease
Disease transmission
Global Health
Humans
Prion Diseases - diagnosis
Prion Diseases - epidemiology
Prion Diseases - microbiology
Prion Diseases - transmission
Prions
Prions - chemistry
Prions - pathogenicity
Review
Risk Factors
Transfusion Reaction
United Kingdom - epidemiology
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Summary:By biological and medical criteria, prions are infectious agents; however, many of their properties differ profoundly from those of conventional microbes. Prions are "encoded" by alterations in protein conformation rather than in nucleic acid or amino acid sequence. New epidemic prion diseases (bovine spongiform encephalopathy and new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) have recently emerged under the active surveillance of the modern world. The risk of contracting prion disease from blood products or other biologicals is now a focus of worldwide concern. Much has been discovered about prions and prion diseases, but much remains to be done.
ISSN:0008-4409
0820-3946
1488-2329