Innovation Anthology #249:
The misfolded prions which cause mad cow and chronic wasting disease are highly transmissible and they are almost impossible to destroy.
That’s where decontamination expert Dr. Jean Phillipe Deslys comes in. He works with the Atomic Energy Commission in France. And he was in Edmonton to speak at the recent Prion conference.
DR. JEAN PHILIPPE DESLYS: Initially my Institute was interested in these diseases because prions are extraordinarily resistant to radiation. These are the more difficult and transmissible agents to decontaminate.
Deslys compares prions to anthrax spores which can remain viable in the environment for decades. Infectious prions can survive on surgical instruments for years. In the case of infected beef, incineration is the current method of disposal.
DR. JEAN PHILIPPE DESLYS: When you burn them at more than 800 degrees, then you get rid of it. But you cannot burn thousands of tonnes. So the idea is to identify what is dangerous and to destroy it selectively and the rest can be used.
However, Deslys says there are some promising new techniques for decontamination on the horizon.
Thanks today to the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Program Date: 2009-08-13