Decontamination of Prions

Why a new book on "Decontamination of Prions" when several good works on sterilization and decontamination of pathogenic microbes are available? Prions are the agents of BSE (mad cow disease), chronic wasting disease of deer and elk and the human Creutzfeldt-Jakob-disease. These agents are much more stable against decontamination procedures than are other microbial agents. In the first part of the present book the history of appearance and spreading of prion agents are described. In the second part those molecular features of prions are outlined which lead to the extraordinary resistance against conventional sterilization methods. In the third part the present day solutions are presented which are applicable to rendering procedures for food and feed production, industrial and medicinal products, and finally safety rules in hospitals. The works should serve as detailed information or handbook with recipes ready to use. von Riesner, Detlev