Fatal Familial Insomnia Book

What these strange conditions including fatal familial insomnia kuru scrapie and mad cow disease share is their cause.

Fatal familial insomnia book. The story takes the reader from the torments of an italian family cursed with sleeplessness to the mad cows of england and now america following an unlikely trail of misfolded proteins. Fatal familial insomnia is caused by a prion version of the prp protein a protein found throughout our bodies though its functions aren t well understood. In almost every case it is caused by a very specific mutation in the prnp gene. Prions are ordinary proteins that sometimes go wrong resulting in neurological illnesses that are always fatal.

This mutation causes the prion protein prp that is made from this gene to be a different shape fold incorrectly. The disease most often arises due to two genetic mutations to the prnp gene but cases of ffi can occur in those without the mutations as well. The family that couldn t sleep is a riveting detective story that plumbs one of the deepest mysteries of biology. A new book tells the tale of an italian family suffering from a rare and deadly disease called fatal familial insomnia.

Just like it says it s insomnia an illness that literally kills its victim. When sonia vallabh lost her mother to a rare disease she and her husband eric minikel set out to find a cure. Since the protein has a different shape it cannot work correctly. Summary fatal familial insomnia ffi is a rare genetic degenerative brain disorder.

The family that couldn t sleep traces the fascinating and horrific tale of an italian family who suffers from a deadly genetic disease called fatal familial insomnia.