Being a Dentist Can Be Dangerous – Diseases – Part 2

The word prion is derived from the term “proteinaceous infectious particle”. The hypothesised role of a protein as an infectious agent stands in contrast to all other known infectious agents such as viroids, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites, all of which contain nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, or both).

All known prion diseases in mammals affect the structure of the brain or other neural tissue; all are progressive, have no known effective treatment, and are always fatal.

1986

So, I have just graduated from university when Mad Cow Disease came on the scene.

Mad Cow Disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a fatal neurological disease of cattle first recognised in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1986. Its human equivalent variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), was prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s.

Over four million head of cattle were slaughtered in an effort to contain the outbreak, and 178 people died after contracting vCJD through eating infected beef. A political and public health crisis resulted, and British beef was banned from export to numerous countries around the world, with some bans remaining in place until as late as 2019.

The outbreak is believed to have originated in the practice of supplementing protein in cattle feed by meat-and-bone meal, which used the remains of other animals. BSE is a disease involving infectious misfolded proteins known as prions in the nervous system; the remains of an infected animal could spread the disease to animals fed on such a diet.

The problem is the prion that infects a person can be asymptomatic for 20 years before it causes fatal insomnia. The only test at that time to check if you were infected was to inject a rat and wait for symptoms to develop. It was not an immediate response.

It you travelled to England during the time of the outbreak you were not allowed to give blood. This ban has only recently been lifted as it has passed the 20 years mark.

The other problem is normal infection control measures DO NOT WORK! When treating an infected patient, ALL INSTRUMENTS MUST BE INCINERATED INCLUDING HANDPIECES.

These patients have to go to special facilities to be treated.

Welcome to being a Dentist at large first year out!