France has go forth a temporary moratorium on all research into prion disease by public research research laboratory for at least three month . The decisionwas made after at least two employees are thought to have contracted a rarified and fatal prion brain disease after working in science laboratory that handle prion .
Prions are a class of misfolding , infectious proteins that do fatal mastermind disease . The moratorium has been issued after a retired National Research Institute for Agriculture , Food and Environment ( INRAE ) lab worker who had handled prion in the past developedCreutzfeldt - Jakob disease(CJD ) , the most coarse prion disease in humans , for which there is no cure . Though it has not been confirmed , an investigation has begin on whether the patient may have contract the disease on the job .
While the origin of the disease is not sealed , this could be the secondly known typesetter’s case of someone catch up with a prion disease in a French science laboratory run by INRAE . In June 2019,Émilie Jaumain died at age 33after being infect with prion in 2010 . Jaumain , an assistant engineer , prick her thumb during an experiment with prion - infect mice leading to her eventual decease class later . Her family is suing the INRAE for manslaughter and scupper life history .
After Jaunmain ’s diagnosis , government examiner ran a general inspection on how prions are treat in France and line up that all the visit labs had good regulatory complaisance , and the research teams understood how to minimize the risk of exposure involved . That said , change were implemented to make it safe , with good cut - resistant gloves and introducing plastic and disposable scissors and scalpel to abbreviate acute instruments .
Jaumain contracted the disease due to the laboratory fortuity , where she had been give latex paint gloves instead of pierce - proof glove , a 2020 paper in theNew England Journal of Medicineconcluded . She had variant CJD due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE ) , commonly bang as mad cow disease . Given that the European irruption of BSE finished in 2000 with no more cases of the variant Creutzfeldt – Jakob disease , it is unbelievable that Jaumain contracted it via intellectual nourishment . INRAE only recently accommodate the potential nexus between her death and the research laboratory fortuity .
Four out of five case of the disease happen with no known causes , with the remaining fifth being either genetic or from transplant of infected human tissue paper . The difference between the regular Creutzfeldt – Jakob disease and the variant can only be assess after death by reckon at brain tissue paper C. W. Post - mortem .
research laboratory infection can occur with many pathogen so there are many safe-conduct in space when dealing with grave materials . Prions , however , are particularly worry as CJD ’s median incubation period is about 10 years , so it takes a very long time for the contagion to give away itself , which is inevitably always too late .
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