This is the collection of all transmissible and genetic
neurodegenerative diseases of humans and animals caused by Prions. The
diseases are usually characterised by vacuolation in the gray matter and
result in ataxia, motor disturbances, Dementia, and progression to a fatal
outcome. They include Creutzfeldt-Jakob
syndrome, Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome, kuru, scrapie, fatal familial
insomnia, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, transmissible mink
encephalopathy, and chronic wasting disease of mule deer and elk. The
literature has sometimes referred to these as unconventional slow virus
diseases.