comment: >
  
  Was that the one where they can't stop dancing and laughing?
context: Fuck as a Brit the 90s are back. The burning bodies in fields. >
  
  We could also follow it up with Foot and Mouth, we get burning and disinfectant. >
  
  Farm to table, foot to mouth. >
  
  The issue back when this was killing people in the 80s was they were feeding the cows their own byproducts, like brains. That was causing it to spread so I assume this practice has stopped. >
  
  Prions are the cause of mad cow disease, and they are very difficult to destroy. Obviously feeding bovine by-products to cows is a concern, but fertilizing with manure from infected cows that hasn't been properly composted is a huge concern. We see e-coli outbreaks in lettuce from insufficiently composted manure. The spread of mad cow could happen just as easily. >
  
  Are you saying it because you know for sure (from actual studies) or are you just extrapolating from the e-coli stuff.
  Because one thing is a whole bacteria which has an actual cell wall that lets it resist the active chemical and biological agents of the outside environment, a completelly different thing is a random protein from inside an animal that's misfolded.
  I don't thing you can just presume that a protein will last long outside: it might, it might not.
  PS: Not a biologist, might be completelly wrong, would love to hear more about this. >
  
  Prions are EXTREMELY durable and infectious. 
  They’re considered so infectious that surgical instruments used on someone infected with them are destroyed, because they cannot be reliably sterilized. >
  
  
  Sustained heat for several hours at extremely high temperatures (900°F and above) will reliably destroy a prion.
  
  Are we sure this is not a kind of alien attack? >
  
  
  You must construct additional prions! >
  
  Well that's fucking horrifying >
  
  Bird flu's decimating poultry farms at the same time.
  I think Mother Nature's trying to tell us something. >
  
  Mad cow is completely preventable. The reason it develops is because they add ground up cow brains and spinal cords to the feed.  You see this in humans that practice cannibalism as well. >
  
  We dont usually see humans practicing cannibalism >
  
  It's common enough that it has been studied. An example is kuru, another prion transmitted disease that was studied in Papua New Guinea. It was a common practice to eat the dead, and their spirit energy would bless those who partook.