2020–2021 BCSC Basic and Clinical Science Course™
8 External Disease and Cornea
Chapter 10: Infectious Diseases of the External Eye: Microbial and Parasitic Infections
Prions
Prions are altered proteins that cause lethal transmissible encephalopathies, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow” disease). Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease following corneal transplantation has been reported. See also BCSC Section 5, Neuro-Ophthalmology.
Prusiner SB. Shattuck Lecture: neurodegenerative diseases and prions. N Engl J Med. 2001; 344(20):1516–1526.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 10 - Glaucoma. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.