Dr. Evelyn Carter stepped into the hospital, adjusting her lab coat as nurses rushed past her. The emergency room was unusually busy, filled with patients who all shared the same strange symptoms: memory loss, confusion, and sudden personality changes. A worried doctor approached her. “Dr. Carter, we have another case. This is the tenth one this week,” he said, flipping through a patient’s chart. Dr. Carter furrowed her brows. “What’s happening to them?” "It’s unlike anything we’ve seen,” the doctor replied. “They’re losing their memory rapidly. Some can’t even recognize their own families. ”Dr. Carter turned toward the patient. A woman in her mid-50s stared blankly at the wall, her hands twitching slightly. Her husband sat beside her, holding her hand tightly. “She was perfectly fine three months ago,” he whispered, “and now… it’s like she’s not even here.” Something about this case sent a chill down Dr. Carter’s spine.

Dr. Carter gathered a team of specialists. If this disease was spreading, they had to stop it fast. All patients had severe memory loss, muscle stiffness, and confusion. Every case was fatal within 6.6 months, far faster than Alzheimer’s. Genetic testing revealed a mutation in the PRNP gene, E196K. "This isn't a coincidence," Dr. Carter muttered. "This mutation is triggering something catastrophic." She pulled up a genetic database. The E196K mutation had been recorded before, in a 69-year-old French woman who died within a year of her first symptoms. "We need to find out what E196K is doing inside the brain." But as they soon discovered, E196K wasn't just another mutation. It was a biological time bomb.

Dr. Carter's team conducted a full post-mortem analysis. No viruses. No bacterial infection. But a horrifying discovery, prions. "We’ve seen prion diseases before," Dr. Carter whispered. "But this mutation... it's different." Prions weren’t alive. They were misfolded proteins that caused normal proteins to twist into deadly shapes. Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions could not be killed by heat, radiation, or even chemicals. And once they started spreading in the brain, nothing could stop them. "If the E196K mutation is linked to prions, it could be the most aggressive form we’ve ever seen." They needed to see the mutation up close.