Discovery News Misinforms Public on Dangers of Prion Disease

Eric Niler at Discovery News misinformed the public in his February 14, 2014 article about prion and prion-related diseases being spread by surgical procedures. He totally minimized the impact, essentially dismissing the problem by saying, "In the past 30 years, only four patients have been infected in this way, none in the United States." For starters, it's simply not possible to make such a claim.

It's all well and good to try and prevent panic, and protect industry from lawsuits, but prion science ought to inform personal health decisions and larger ones too - like those impacting global industry. For shame.

In fact, epidemiological studies show the onset of sCJD occurs within 10 years after an operation on the retina with reused equipment; 10-19 years after invasive procedures on peripheral nerves and skeletal muscle; and over 20 years after interventions on blood vessels, peritoneum, the vagina, and a pooled category of lower-risk procedures. Never mind contaminated tissue, blood products and various transplants. Or neurosurgery. And let's not even talk about other prion-related diseases and proteinopathies that don't involve the prion protein per se.

Granted, the corporate issue is legal liability and the potential for lawsuits - epidemiology doesn't stand up to the legal game of "prove it conclusively" - unfortunately, few sciences can claim absolutes, so miscreants manipulate the law.

It's time for us all to recognize our assumptions are based on fatally flawed dogma. Time to rethink, regroup and redirect.

Novant Health officials apologized this week to 18 patients and their families for exposing those patients to surgical instruments that had been used on a CJD patient ….
In the past 30 years, only four patients have been infected in this way, none in the United States.

….procedures involving retina and optic nerve were associated with an increased risk at a latency of ≥1 year OR (95% CI) 5.53 (1.08 to 28.0). At latencies of 10 to 19 years, interventions on peripheral nerves 4.41 (1.17 to 16.6) and skeletal muscle 1.58 (1.01 to 2.48) were directly associated. Interventions on blood vessels 4.54 (1.01 to 20.0), peritoneum 2.38 (1.14 to 4.96) and skeletal muscle 2.04 (1.06 to 3.92), interventions conducted by vaginal approach 2.26 (1.14 to 4.47) and a pooled category of lower-risk procedures 2.81 (1.62 to 4.88) had an increased risk after ≥20 years.

Surgery Linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

A new study spearheaded by Spanish scientists demonstrates a causal relationship between the onset of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), caused by a protein called a prion, and general surgery.

…The finding, published recently in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, reveals that, with a few exceptions, the risk of having contracted the sporadic form of CJD manifests itself at least 20 years after having undergone an operation.

...We might, therefore, ask ourselves if other types of motor neuron diseases can be transmitted through surgery and be latent for decades, such as those where risk factors, particularly physical professions and activities or certain sporting activities, for example, which are more likely to lead to surgery, have already been indicated.

…the most conclusive pattern that the study presents, ….is that the onset of CJD occurs approximately 10 years after an operation on the retina with reused equipment.

When some negative effects show up ten years after surgery, most people do not even think the surgery was the cause. Now to sue the hospital for this when there is no absolute proof would be a waste of time.

The big thing here is to only get surgery if you need it. Cosmetic surgery without need just raises your risk of contamination. I'm sort of skeptical about whether dentistry is actually good for us. We can't limit this just to hospitals, we need to look at everything. A lamp has to be adjusted during a dental procedure, sure the gloves are on, as are the gloves the next time the lamp is adjusted right before they go into your mouth. The lamps are disinfected, but that does nothing for prions that could be on the lamp. There always seems to be blood during dental procedures, even cleaning. Being exposed to prions every six months directly raises your risk. And often there is a second appointment to do a cavity.

reply to post by rickymouse


Good points and observations rickymouse. I know that a lot of prion information seems like doom porn, but my interest goes way beyond the diseases they cause, past prions' roles in memory and immunity, to their functions in evolution and ecology and wherever else the study may lead. My thesis is in the last paragraph of my OP:

It's time for us all to recognize our assumptions are based on fatally flawed dogma. Time to rethink, regroup and redirect.

Now that medical instruments can be decontaminated
& prions can be deactivated, it seems this should be
mandatory practice in hospitals. Maybe it's very expensive?

It will be interesting to follow & see where all this new prion
information leads to & if people will try to sue, or there will
be more testing. I just had a major surgery at the end of Aug 2013.

Cheers
Ektar

I'm with you on the important point of the need to re-examine everything connected to that, including dentistry, as Rickymouse astutely points out, and drop long-held dogmas. In university our profs would not accept references that were older than two years, as the pace of information was mind-boggling. It is now sort of jumbled in my mind at present, as I await more info and try to wade away from erroneous beliefs in relation to it all. I imagine that the discussions and debates among scientists include a lot of similar content. I can't wait for clarity to emerge once and for all.

Ektar
Now that medical instruments can be decontaminated
& prions can be deactivated, it seems this should be
mandatory practice in hospitals. Maybe it's very expensive?

It will be interesting to follow & see where all this new prion
information leads to & if people will try to sue, or there will
be more testing. I just had a major surgery at the end of Aug 2013.

Hey - thanks for posting. Just to clarify - it is NOT possible to decontaminate all medical industruments. These are recognized problems in the medical field, if not well-publicized. Some instruments are disposable, some are re-used; the equipment most likely to be contaminated with prions cannot be autoclaved - but the main recommendation is autoclaving with chemicals to deactivate prions. NOTE: this does not address the main underlying problem - exposure to chemicals and heat tends to create new prion strains.

ALSO NOTE: It's also pretty much impossible to decontaminate slaughter-houses, Big Pharma's vats for mixing medications, and never mind our contaminated soil and water that keeps getting re-contaminated with industrial effluents.

FROM the CDC:

How should heat-sensitive instruments or materials that come in contact with suspected or confirmed CJD patients be decontaminated?

All disposable instruments, materials, and wastes that come in contact with high infectivity tissues (brain, spinal cord, and eyes) and low infectivity tissues (cerebrospinal fluid, kidneys, liver, lungs, lymph nodes, spleen, and placenta) of suspected or confirmed TSE patients should be disposed of by incineration. Surfaces and heat-sensitive re-usable instruments that come in contact with high infectivity and low infectivity tissues should be decontaminated by flooding with or soaking in 2N NaOH or undiluted sodium hypochlorite for 1 hour and rinsed with water.
[CDC NOTE: Sodium hypochlorite may be corrosive to some instruments.]

......When I say our assumptions are based on fatally flawed dogma, I mean that dogma misinforms way more than our medical industries, and extends to form the foundation for an extremely flawed world view and global systems.

So "rethink, regroup and redirect" applies to whole lot more than hospitals - and no, I do NOT mean to support lawsuits. I mean we need to recognize that prion science changes the foundations of our assumptions about how the world works - thus, it should change how our industrial and economic systems work.

The fact that so many years can pass before symptoms appear makes that route of exposure even more difficult.
I remember a case a few years ago that occurred in the northwest, and the infected cattle were traced back to a ranch in Canada.It made me wonder then how many infected animals had entered the food chain before then. The fact that,cows too sick to walk, are dragged by chain to be slaughtered and fed to us isn't very comforting.

A recall from California meat processing plant was issued for the past YEAR of production. Wow; how many people have already consumed their meat? They didn't say the meat was contaminated with CJD; in fact, they didn't give any reason. Maybe they need to find an explanation that won't be alarming, but not everybody will buy it.

Ten; fifteen; twenty year incubation? I laughed my a$$ off when I first started reading about a Zombie Apocalypse on ATS; now I don't think it's so funny - or farfetched.

reply to post by nugget1


I hope you realize it's not just the food supply, including plants. Our whole industrial system and so, economic system, are based on a fundamental misapprehension of how life and our world actually works. Continuing business-as-usual virtually guarantees creating and spreading disease-causing prions throughout the world.

reply to post by soficrow

Thank you for your reply. I graduated tech school in 1999. So I am glad
to see they can finally test for prions. I had gotten the sterilization info
from NIH site.
You are the 1st person I have come in contact with in mentioning plants.
I was shocked at first & will need to revisit. I know with animals alot if
not all started with rendering & I know hardly any cattle are tested.
Also that many countries will only except certain cuts of exported beef
not to include spinal cord & etc.
I really hate that the food chain has become what it is. I was just shocked
to see what farmed fish were being fed...not there regular diet../

Sorry I am so behind but I am grateful that you are on top of the prion
issue as this is a scary subject & why I do not eat hamburgers unless from
known source or hotdogs, sausages & etc.

Cheers
Ektar

reply to post by soficrow


I found this article while wandering around in a search on glutamine/asparagines. I am wondering if this article could be considered as a possible clue to prion formation susceptability. My head isn't doing so good today, got a little bug, and I haven't researched prions nearly as much as you have. So I figured I'd see if it made any sense to you as related to prions. It seems to me that the asparaganes and glutamines are used in the creation of the fibrils. www.pnas.org...

reply to post by rickymouse


RE: Prion "susceptibility." Just to be clear, it's all about exposure - either exposure to prions themselves, or to environmental influences that promote prion formation. The article you linked describes how prions create new strains on contact with new proteins; it also describes a new method to identify proteins prone to aggregation (one effect of prions called "gain of function").

reply to post by Ektar

I am glad to see they can finally test for prions.

You're misinformed - there are no real tests for known prions, and no tests for unknown strains (which most are).

Thank you for the Op Sofi,

Very astute info especially concerning the ability of prions to "survive"
even through the autoclave sterilization.

For as much research is put into successful surgeries, the same needs
to be put to understanding prions, as protein is the building block of life.

S&F

a reply to: burntheships

Check this out:

Prion Disease in Deer is Worsening; Penned Hunting Operations are a Factor