France issued moratorium in 2021 on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes two lab workers

[Emily]

https://www.science.org/content/art...rch-after-fatal-brain-disease-strikes-two-lab
France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes two lab workers

A 2019 death from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was linked to a lab accident; a similar case is now under investigation

• 28 Jul 2021
• By Barbara Casassus

PARIS—Five public research institutions in France have imposed a 3-month moratorium on the study of prions—a class of misfolding, infectious proteins that cause fatal brain diseases—after a retired lab worker who handled prions in the past was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the most common prion disease in humans. An investigation is underway to find out whether the patient, who worked at a lab run by the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), contracted the disease on the job.

If so, it would be the second such case in France in the past few years. In June 2019, an INRAE lab worker named Émilie Jaumain died at age 33, 10 years after pricking her thumb during an experiment with prion-infected mice. Her family is now suing INRAE for manslaughter and endangering life; her illness had already led to tightened safety measures at French prion labs...