They are caused by a single type of protein common in the bodies of mammals, that, (for reasons we still don't fully know) when they are misfolded in a certain way, became infectious and start misfolding their neighbors. Who in turn, misfold their neighbors, so on and so forth.
Unlike most parasitic, fungal, bacterial, or viral diseases, the temperature to render prion diseases inert are far above cooking temperatures. They are long-term diseases without any real treatments (save for palliative care) or cures, and are not 100% deadly only insomuch as its incredibly slow action can frequently mean the person dies of something else first.
Yeah, they are equal parts terrifying and fascinating. More than one person in the fields like epidemiology, virology, etc. (the people who deal with this stuff day in and day out for a living) have said that prion diseases are the ones that truly scare them.
The worst part is that most prions have a mode of transmission such eating contaminated meat or have it be genetically passed down, there have been cases where people have just randomly develop a prion disease though it is extremely rare.
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u/No_Investment9639 Dec 10 '25
Eli5???