Professor Michael Geschwind, MD, PhD, from the University of California San Francisco is one of the distinguished neuroscientists of our times. We’ll talk about the prion concept, Professor Geschwind, explains us what prion diseases are and where the name prion comes from. Although Professor Prusiner, the scientist who discovered the “proteinaceous infectious agent” and coined the term prion claims that it is his word creation, the prion was also Hippocrates trepanation instrument. What un unfortunate coincidence: a protein which induces the spongiform brain and is responsible for neurodegenerative diseases is synonymous with trepanation tool. Worse than that is the use of the prion in Nordic mythology. There it was used as a weapon and an instrument to literarily induce silence of someone, who misbehaved. This term may be offensive to patients suffering of prion diseases. Finally, also COVID-19 is associated with a prion disease.
The names of the swine flu and the monkey pox needed to be reviewed, since they are considered unethical. What about ethics and the term prion?
25 июн 2023
