system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If prions are so difficult to destroy and spread easily, why aren't the diseases they cause more widespread?
gpt
Prions don't spread that easily. They typically have to be ingested or enter the bloodstream in some way and rarely spread person to person. In comparison to the average virus or bacteria that makes them many orders of magnitude less virulent. It also makes the standard protections that we use against viruses and bacteria, like glove wearing and protecting ourselves from blood and tissue, incredibly effective against prions.

As a side note, prion diseases may be much more common than we know. There are some theories that diseases like Parkinson's might be caused by prions and are actually spread among people.