Mad Cow testing equipment stolen from Florida Hospital. (Was used to test patient who tested +)

[magical thyme]

11. I did my presentation final on prion diseases in microbiology a couple years ago

At that point, nothing had been found that destroyed prions. It was pretty scary.

Autoclaves don't. Fire doesn't -- and how many countries were burning carcasses of cows, sheep (with scrapie, which is probably how it originated), and deer with elk wasting disease (and elk and deer form that also occasionally jumps species, it originated in a captive herd in Wisconsin and has been spreading since)?

None of a series of extremely corrosive chemical compounds did.

Not only did burying the carcasses not destroy prions, certain soil types seem to increase their bioavailability. In one test, a herd of sheep were grazed on a pasture where sheep with scrapies had been buried. 100% of the herd developed scrapies, and they developed the fastest progressing form.

Prion diseases can either follow a slow or fast progression.