Posted on 06/04/2014 10:56:14 AM PDT by Dallas59
I always tell people that I do not donate blood because anyone receiving my blood will get mad cow disease and die.
I am indefinitely disqualified from donating blood because I lived in Europe for 4 years.
It decreases the supply. If a slaughtered cow is found to have CJD, then all cows slaughtered on that line during the same time period must be discarded along with the the infected cow. Still, losing a day's worth of production from one slaughterhouse is not likely to have much an effect on the entire beef supply.
The kuru explanation.
Thanks for the ping!
All proteins are folded when they are made within cells. They must be folded correctly to be biologically useful. Usually, when proteins are folded incorrectly, or misfolded, the cell tags them for destruction.
Prions are a misfolded form of a specific protein made within nervous system cells. Unlike other misfolded proteins, they escape being targeted for destruction. They have the property of being able to induce other proteins of the same type to misfold the same way. The symptoms of the encephalopathy arise when the concentration of misfolded prions reaches a certain level.
Prions are unique in that they are infectious and contagious without being alive.
The blood donor qualifications are quite complicated regarding living overseas. They take the form of “History of living in country X for at least Y months or years between the years of 19.. and 19..” I lived in France for 1 year (not disqualifying) and Spain for 3 years (not disqualifying, except for military members and dependents) in the 1970s and 1980s. My son who was born in Spain has never been eligible to donate blood; I believe he would donate if he could.
You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
CZJ
That picture is udder-ly ridiculous.
My whole family can’t give blood after our 10 years stationed in Germany.
The supposed time-traveler had said a few times that CJD was a big problem in his time. He suggested that people convert to a vegan lifestyle to avoid it. Although I do not believe the story, I first heard about CJD while researching the Titor story.
Just a thought.
Now that was fun internet moment. He wanted an old computer.
Our family member died of CJD while living near Denison, TX in 2008. The medical arena were extremely close hold on any information. Although a 1 in a million disease, another wife seeing his obituary, wrote from just 7 miles away that her husband had died of it.
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