I found the article ‘From Prion Diseases to Prion-Like Propagation Mechanisms of Neurodegenerative Diseases’ quite difficult to understand, as I do not have any kind of scientific background to assimilate it. While the movies were helpful in giving a clearer description of what Prions were and their consequences, it I am still not quite clear how such proteins function. I guess that the fact that scientists in general themselves know so little about it only adds to the confusion in getting a clear representation of the facts. Exactly for that reason, prions are a subject that appeals greatly to the general public; it is a mysterious phenomenon but mostly it has no know cure. As one of the video’s worded it, it is the Real Zombie-Maker, and is virtually undetectable unless the right kind of testing is done. I also believe that the intense attention given to Prions is also due to the fact that it is basically a self-destructive process; once your nervous system starts failing their is not external factor that you can aggressively attack as you could for a tumor; it is basically accepting that your own system is failing you and that the loopholes in the smooth process that is the brain have been found.
I would have liked to understand more fully the exact process that takes place during infection but the scientific research that is available to us is unfortunately quite inaccessible to me for the time being.