A current topic of interest of mine would happen to be transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, if not for how honestly horrifying the concept of them is. Now, I don't expect everyone passing by to know what this is, so allow me to explain. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies occur when the proteins of the brain begin to fold incorrectly, which will slowly lead to sponge-like holes in the brain — hence "spongiform". Additionally, this form of it can be transferred, though the means of doing so can be considered a bit odd. In most cases, one might contract such a condition by eating something that held onto one of those proteins, better known as prions. Prions are very resilient little things, they will survive being put through a medical-grade autoclave, therefore meaning that any meat prepared from an infected organism will be unsafe. Additionally, the plants that an infected organism died on will also be unsafe for consumption for years after that death.
While several versions of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies exist, there are two that I would consider the most notable. Bovine spongiform encephalopaty, better known as Mad Cow Disease, and Chronic Wasting Disease. Mad Cow is certainly the best known out of those two, but Chronic Wasting Disease is still a present issue that can be observed in deer.
There was a notable outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy within the United Kingdom during the 1980s, caused by the poor quality feed cows were given due to the low regulation and cheap price that feed gave. Cows within the UK were fed a type of meat and bone meal back then, rather than any sort of plant-based feed they should have been getting. However, some of the sheep used to make this feed ended up having Scrapie, the version of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that can affect sheep. Many cows ended up exhibiting odd behaviors due to infection, such as behavioral changes and worsened coordination. Some cows would exhibit aggression due to the disease, which I assume was where the nickname of "Mad Cow" came from, though that's just my speculation. Panic grew, however, because many feared this disease would be transmitted to humans by eating infected meat. Unfortunately, this ended up being the case, though the total number of those affected will continue to climb due to the fact that prion diseases can incubate for very long times. Because of this, anyone who resided in the UK during the 1980s is not allowed to donate blood, due to fear the disease will transmit to the recipient.
As for Chronic Wasting disease, the signs are similar. Many infected deer display odd behaviors, as well as poor coordination. Others fail to eat, resulting in them wasting away and starving to death. This disease, unlike Mad Cow, is not yet contained, so eating any sort of deer meat can always pose the risk of being infected. This can also be spread from deer to deer, specifically because the malformed prions can survive on vegetation for a very long time. If you see any sort of cervine acting odd, you're supposed to report it to interior officials.
There's certainly more to be said about ths topic, like the several types of these diseases that appear in humans, but I have a feeling most have stopped reading seriously at this point. While I'd certainly love to say more, and you're completely welcome to ask, I also recommend anyone interested to conduct their own research. This is simply one of many topics I hold some knowledge on, and I anticipate making more long posts explaining things in the future. It is an outlet to release my knowledge without overwhelming my fellow classmates and Kusuo-kun's friend group.
akemod: I thought of posting something like this as a joke and then I was two paragraphs in. sorry.
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