pron diseases also known as transmissible spongiform and sephy opathy are a group of neurodegenerative diseases that involve the accumulation of an abnormal form of a protein called pron protein into Aggregates that are resistant to being broken down by brain enzymes the formation of these protein aggregates is associated with pathological changes in the nervous system such as the formation of tiny holes in Gray matter which gives the tissue a sponge-like appearance there is also a loss of neurons and other signs of brain pathology which are associated with symptoms that rapidly worsen over time the symptoms vary
depending on the specific pron disease but include severe cognitive decline and a variety of neurological problems preon diseases are incurable and always result in death there is currently no treatment recognized to be effective in improving someone's prognosis unlike other infectious agents the agent that causes pron diseases seems to consist only of an abnormal form of a protein hence the term pron which is an amalgamation of proteinous infectious particle the pathogenic form of preon protein seems to be capable of transmitting its pathogenic state to other previously healthy proteins additionally pieces of protein aggregates sometimes break off
and the particles can form additional Aggregates in these ways preon diseases cause a spread of pathology throughout the central nervous system pron diseases are not transmitted like typical infection ious diseases there is no evidence for example of them being transmitted through casual contact only a very small percentage of cases are due to an acquired infection documented cases of acquired infections have occurred through consumption of contaminated meat or accidental transmission through a medical procedure approximately 10 to 15% of pron diseases are inherited and clearly traceable back to a mutation in the pron protein Gene but most
cases are sporadic without a known cause