Proteinaceous infectious particles that cause degenerative diseases of the nervous system in humans and other animals are called

A) archaeans.
B) prions.
C) cyanobacteria.
D) phages.
E) retroviruses.

Prions are infectious, misfolded proteins that can cause a variety of degenerative neurological disorders in humans and other animals. Unlike viruses and other infectious agents, prions do not contain genetic material like DNA or RNA. Instead, they are made up of abnormal forms of a naturally occurring protein found in the brain and nervous system. When these misfolded proteins come into contact with normal proteins, they can trigger a chain reaction that causes additional normal proteins to misfold and clump together, eventually leading to damage and death of nerve cells.