-fatal neurological degeneration, fibril deposits in brain,
and loss of brain matter
-large vacuoles form in brain
-characteristic spongy appearance
---spongiform encephalopathies – bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, creutzfeld jakob disease, scrapie,
kuru
-transmitted by ingestion, transplantation, or contact of
mucous membranes with infected tissues
-prions only destroyed by incineration or autoclaving in
1 N NaOH or by prionzyme
-no treatment