Compass: Valentina Giuffra about the mystrious Prion protein and Hippocrates trepanation instrument

The prion, “A hole in the skull”? with Professor Valentina Giuffra and Radu Golban
A prion is a type of protein that can determine normal proteins in the brain to fold abnormally. Prion diseases can affect both humans and animals. They may spread through aerosols or food. Although via aerosols it is the fast track to the brain. The most common form of prion disease that affects humans is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Severe inflammatory reactions and aging are two very strong common links between neurodegenerative diseases and COVID-19. Several interesting and fascinating associations have recently been made between SARS-CoV-2 infection, prion neurobiology, and PrD (Prion like Domains) is what scientist claim. This degeneration gives the brain a spongy appearance, hence its name, Spongiform encephalopathy.
Today in “Compass” we discuss with Professor Valentina Giuffra, from the University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery the term Prion as well: Experts in paleopathology and the history of medicine are familiar with the Prion but not as a molecular entity: it was Hippocrates trepanation instrument. The crown drill bit! What a coincicence during the Corona pandemic!
Are elites using a term causing incredible suffering for all patients suffering from such disease from the well-known prion disorders to prion like disease like Alzheimer, Parkinson, COVID-19 and HIV to literally say, that such people have a hole in the head? “A hole in the head” is according to the dictionary also name for someone who is mentally retarded until a certain extent. Is that the way how some elites are trying to make fun millions of people suffering of cognitive decline due to all the disease caused by prion misfolding?
What do we know about the etymology of this term? The term is said to have been coined by Professor Stanley Prusiner. This is what Prusiner also says himself. He was 1997 awarded with the Nobel Prize for the discovery of this infectious proteinaceous agent. In an interview about the origin of the term "prion" he is playing the humorous and smart professor but does not mention when and who mentioned it for the first time. He explains that he first thought about an acronym for this protein, then how he wanted it to sound very original and a bit English but also French. What a coincidence that Hippocrates trepanation instrument was a prion (too). So, the protein’s name, a pathogen agent which basically makes sponges in the brain is synonymous with an instrument to drill holes in the skull. Prusiner did never mention this cynical coincidence. We may wonder if during the last decades nobody asked him about the Greek "saw" (Prion). Hippocrates used the prion against convulsions in the skull and the spongiform brain. How funny, thousands of years later the pathogen agent for the spongiform brain has the same name as a medical instrument for trepanation. Even the etymology offers some great insights about prions, how the old Greek "saw" (crone drill bid) was an instrument for "silencing" in Nordic mythology. No doubt that prions in case of misfolding, don't make one smart(er).
We have experienced the efforts to change unethical names for disease like the swine flu and monkeypox. Professor Prusiner isn’t available for an interview to tell us why the term Prion doesn’t need to be changed as well.
One could argue that scientist, or at least a limited number of cynical fellows are using, at least from now on, once they are aware of the true etymological meaning of the term, in an insulative, abusive and contemptuous manner.
Stanley Prusiner on the Origin of the Term Prion (worldneurologyonline.com)
Discovery of the First Hippocratic Cranial Trepanation from the Greek colony of Himera, Sicily (6th-5th century B.C.) - Paleopatologia