Statistically, yes. There’s thousands of risks you don’t even consider that are more dangerous. So probably not rational to worry about collagen.
There is no definite proof that gelatin can contain infectious prions, as long as it is manufactured according to industry standards. It’s theoretically possible. But your odds of getting struck by lightning are far higher in any given year. I wouldn’t worry about it.
A friend of mine got infected with prions. Well, it’s what the doctors believe since all other tests came up negative. They aren’t 100% sure but have documented it as that.
It’s amazing how quickly he degenerated. He was feeling weird physically and mentally and went to a doctor. Within a few months he was a different person but could recognize friends. He needed assistance for living. Within a year he was completely mentally gone. Just a different person with no means of communicating or doing anything for himself. Just completely sad.
You can spontaneously misfold a protein yourself. After a quick look on Wikipedia for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: "An EU study determined that "87% of cases were sporadic, 8% genetic, 5% iatrogenic and less than 1% variant."[22]"
No one has any idea. He wasn’t exposed to anything that would be high risk for it, if that’s even a thing. As another person commented here, it sounds like it’s spontaneous in many cases. Or at least that’s our best answer.
You’ll need to sterilize everything with a 50% solution of bleach. Not by spraying it like a domestic cleaning agent, mind you, but by submersing or covering it for five minutes. That should be enough to denature prions on the surfaces of everyday objects - but not tissue like food!
If this concerns you, look into hydrolyzed collagen (aka collagen peptides). I assume since they are broken down its a bit different, but can't back up my assumption.
