
Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic is on our minds. With no antiviral agent to stop this coronavirus infection, the real hope is to survive long enough to receive one of the effective vaccines to generate antibodies to block infection. In addition, protective masking, hand washing, and social avoidance are necessary.
However, of grave concern, we have another untreatable always fatal disease spreading epidemically through wildlife around the world and locally. The disease is caused by structurally abnormal proteins and is called Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) based on the appearance of the sick animals. Every infected animal dies.
No human is known to have been infected by eating meat from wild game animals infected with CWD, but based on prion science, it could happen.
My interest in prion disease spans decades and prompted me to write a novel about its spread. If it’s spread through zoo animals that consumed infected beef, will it jump species barriers and infect others?
In the UK, numerous exotic zoo ruminants and bison died after eating infected meat and bone meal. Prion disease also killed captive wild cats throughout Europe. In the outbreak of human prion disease in Great Britain, it also killed hundreds of pet cats. Outbreaks in farmed mink have also occurred. All infected animals develop severe behavior changes, restlessness, sometimes aggressiveness or timidity. Infected deer lose their fear of humans. They develop excessive salivation, tremors and staring. Their inability to eat results in muscle wasting and starvation, thus the CWD descriptive term.
In the 1990s, a protein prion form crossed the species barrier from cattle to humans killing hundreds of people who ate the infected beef.
When humans developed the disease from eating infected beef, the incubation period was often years and occurred in younger people. Symptoms ranged from early visual changes, progressing to memory loss, motor disturbances and balance problems, followed by advancing dementia, coma, and death. This human disease is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Variant correlates with the form of CJD from diseased beef.
Prions are unlike any other infections, not a viral or bacterial. Prions are highly stable structurally abnormal proteins that transmit the fatal disease through contamination and consumption. This means, if you eat beef from cattle with Mad Cow Disease, you may die. Cooking the meat well done does not inactivate prions. The structure is so stable in tissue it must be incinerated to kill it.
The abnormal proteins can survive on surfaces for long periods. The usual soap and water washing of knives, truck beds or counters where meat is butchered with is not adequate to decontaminate the areas. Research shows 40% Clorox can inactivate prions if soaked for five minutes.
Prion infected carcasses left in the field after removing consumable portions of a game animal contaminates the soil. Depending on soil type, prions may not decompose and could be infectious in the ground for years and can contaminate the watershed. Ideally, the infected game and carcasses should be burned.
Hunting is big business. When purchase of specialized clothing, weapons, vehicles and licensing fees are included, hunting enthusiasts spend billions each year. Devoted sportsmen are unlikely to give up eating game meat or stop hunting in spite of prion risks, but all hunters are encouraged to follow guidelines published by state hunting websites. All big game should be tested for prions before consuming.
Infected game animals appear normal for 1-2 years before showing symptoms, so eating a normal appearing animal without testing places you at risk. Testing tonsil or brain tissue reveals the abnormal structures, but the abnormal prions are found in muscle tissue, too, not just in neurological tissue. Brain pathology shows characteristic microscopic holes.
CJD is a complex of fatal neurological disorders first described by the two physicians whose names they carry. Some of the disorders are inherited.
Betty Kuffel, MD
Fatal Feast is available on Amazon
Does Writer’s Block Exist?
Some authors complain about the elusive malady of writer’s block. If you believe you suffer from this illness, prescriptions from educators, book doctors and helpful friends are readily available. Like many disorders, if there is disagreement about its existence, treatment options are variable and may be unreliable.
There are no dark conspiracies like we’ve seen with COVID-19 and hydroxychloroquine is not an antidote. But maybe a stemmed glass of Writer’s Block red wine and relaxation beneath a starry sky would stimulate ideas, generate some antibodies and immunize you.
During decades of practicing ER medicine and documenting serious life crises in patients, I did little writing for fun. My writing was primarily documentation in medical records. I accumulated files of novel and scene ideas, lists of anecdotes, funny conversations and quirks for memorable characters. Retirement allowed more time for me to write for fun but I felt compelled to first write books on medical topics of concern.
ER work revealed a marked lack of basic knowledge in people treated for trauma, illnesses and mental health. ERs treat people with many diseases and injuries that are preventable. Heart disease is still the leading cause of death in both men and women in spite of the half million people who have died of COVID-19 over the past year. I decided to first write a handbook on heart health because for years I had wanted to provide patients a book to help them understand disease processes and recover sooner.
Heart disease and other pressing medical topics got in my way of writing novels because serious health problems are prevalent but hidden from view. Predators and Sexually transmitted diseases can kill, too.
Child abuse, incest, domestic abuse, rape, and venereal disease are all too common. I have felt compelled to write about each. In the eleven years since retirement, I have written almost daily, publishing three nonfiction books and four medical thrillers.
I am never at a loss for topics to write about, so I may be immune to Writer’s Block. If a story line slows or I need to develop a subplot or improve a character, I will set a novel aside and start another project, working on it for days if not weeks. However, a note to myself is a reminder to remedy the issue in the parked novel. To do this, I use One Note. The program is easily accessible, pinned to my lower menu bar and I write ideas when they come to me.
Four Medical Thrillers
Over the years, I have used many methods to glean ideas for books, names, character ideas and locales. Here are a few of my favorites: watch people, listen to dialogue, note unusual mannerisms, capture scenes in your mind’s eye or take up photography, interview experts, read obituaries and tabloids. Read tombstones for names and sometimes learn unique qualities of the deceased.
This month I completed drafts to two more novels:
Undercurrents of Loon Lake is set in 1960 in a resort area in Northern Minnesota and co-authored with my sister Bev. A friend described this murder mystery as Psycho meets Lake Wobegon.
Blood Ties addresses incest: Anna, age 13, finds herself mired in three generations of sexual abuse and incest at the hands of one man. She can’t save her own mother, but she must find a way to rescue her daughter.
I hope to publish both this year and have four more novels in progress.
Thanks for stopping by.
Best wishes for a healthy year of writing.
Betty
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