In biology, prions are cellular molecules that, despite not being viruses, have infectious characteristics. In short, prions are not living specimens, they are just proteins that lack nucleic do. This infectious agent has the ability to cause so-called prion diseases, which represent a group of degenerative encephalopathies that damage the brain and nervous system.
This term was first made known by a professor of neurology and biochemistry at the University of California (United States) named Stanley B. Prusiner who, when conducting studies on a set of chronic and irreversible diseases that ended up damaging the central nervous system, He found these infectious proteins that cause various neurological diseases.
Prions have a molecular structure that works on the body's proteins, transforming them into new prions, which in turn, increase the infection. A prion is a misfolded protein that generates continuous neurodegenerative conditions. As already mentioned, when a prion is introduced into a totally healthy organism, it works on the common form of the same kind of protein that exists in that organism, forming more prions and causing a chain reaction, producing significant amounts of prions.
The incubation stage of prion conditions is usually set by the exponential rate of development, linked to the replication of prions.
Prions are very harmful particles for any type of animal, since they are the cause of communicable diseases among mammals, as is the case with the famous "mad cow" disease, which affects cattle and can spread to humans, if they consume their infected meat.
