> "Common knowledge is that prions aren't airborne, and can't cause infection that way," said neuropathologist Adriano Aguzzi of University Hospital Zurich, co-author of a study appearing today in PLoS Pathogens. "We were totally surprised and also a bit frightened at how efficient [airborne infections] were."
Prion diseases aren't airborne. Yes, you can aerosolize them mechanically and get them to infect mice in a lab. There has never been a known case of airborne transmission between two animals. The shed load just isn't remotely high enough, being a brain plaque and not a respiratory infection.
> "Common knowledge is that prions aren't airborne, and can't cause infection that way," said neuropathologist Adriano Aguzzi of University Hospital Zurich, co-author of a study appearing today in PLoS Pathogens. "We were totally surprised and also a bit frightened at how efficient [airborne infections] were."
https://www.wired.com/2011/01/airborne-prions-disease/