vCJD help at last!

vCJD (variantCreutzfeld-Jacob Disease) is a pretty horrible disease. It is a series of tiny protein fragments that can pass through your entire body, gathering in your brain and basically destroying it. This is also known as "mad cow disease".

The tiny protein fragments are called "prions". Prions aren't virii, bacteria or yeast, but a non-living form of infectious agent that is very difficult to get rid of. In the spectrum described above, yeast (a type of fungi) is "alive". It has a nucleus, organelles (like mitochondria) and a membrane. Next is bacteria, which is single celled, no organelles or nucleus, but still considered "alive". A virus is a non-living agent - it has an exterior shell and DNA inside, but it has no internal mechanisms. It cannot move or reproduce on its own, but it uses living cells to reproduce. This makes it a sort of half-alive entity. More like a machine that is activated when it contacts the appropriate cells. Prions are even less like living cells than a virus.

A virus contains genetic material, RNA or DNA, with a protein casing. The casing protects the genetic material until it can hijack a living cell and use it to reproduce. A prion lacks the genetic material - somehow it is able to change certain proteins into itself, without using other means. The exact mechanism is actually not understood.

However the GOOD NEWS is that someone has discovered a treatment for this disease! Researchers were able to develop a blood filtering process that is capable of pulling out the bad prions from the blood. This is by far the best news for any sufferer of vCJD or mad cow disease. I hope the process will proceed to commercial approval so that it will be available as a treatment.

Edit (2006-12-31): A helpful commenter pointed out that this is not a treatment for vCJD, but rather something that will make blood transfusions safer. The prions are removed from human blood by the process, which is still a tremendous step for the disease. I suspect that it would be used as part of a treatment for someone with vCJD, by filtering their own blood. So little is still known that it may make no difference.