Prion world

What percentage of beef-eating Americans diagnosed with dementia are in fact suffering from prion diseases?

And of those beef-eaters not yet demented, what percentage have prions rotting their brains?

Beef is the best-known and I assume largest prion vector.

But all animals are vulnerable to prion diseases: sheep, pigs, fish, insects that we know of — presumably all animals.

Also: plants can uptake prions from soil, and these prions remain infectious.

One wonders if prion-based life forms will succeed our own.

Evolution is an ongoing process: we are not the final species.

Anonymous