I found it so great that in the Protein Database reading, they reference the cannibalism in Papua New Guinea that we studied earlier this week. It is great to be able to refer back to our knowledge of the case and our experience with the simulated investigation process. Also, the groupwork was a lot of fun! It was great to see that the anthropological explanation could often be the most plausible one.
The fact that only one misfolded prion form can contaminate and alter an entire population of normal prions is frightening to say the least. The prions are made up of protein, and can multiply incorrectly brain and act as an infectious agent. As we saw in the Papua New Guinea tribe, the ‘kuru’ disease caused body termors, lack of body control, and death. The similarity of the symptoms to Mad Cow Disease, communicate a possibility of infecting humans with this disease.
This brings us to another issue: the bioethics of using animal donors for humans. As possible disease carrying agents, the use of animal organs to replace defective human ones is a great risk with the possibility of prion misfolding. Is it ethical to use pig, bovine and sheep organs in humans at the risk of infecting us with prion molecules?
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