Prion variant

Prion variant was the deadly pathogen engineered by Jonas Hodges of the Starkwood company before Day 7. It was a form of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and attacked the nervous system, but was engineered to be lethal within one or two days. The original pathogen was native to the East Congo.

Before Day 7
Sometime after Benjamin Juma took over Sangala following the events of Redemption, Hodges and Juma began infecting native Sangalans in remote areas with prion variant. They exhibited mental degredation, uncontrollable movements, and other symptoms. As rumors spread of the terrorism, Juma fire-bombed the areas to destroy all the evidence.

Eventually, the pathogen was engineered to Hodges' satisfaction. In exchange for assistance with his political agenda and an invasion of the White House, Juma offered to ship the completed prion variant experiment to Washington, D.C..

Day 7
Juma's men shipped the prion variant container to the Port of Alexandria, and Hodges mercenaries retrieved the bio-weapon with help from Carl Gadsen and despite interference from Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida. During the capture of the weapons, Jack became the first person infected with the prions in the USA.

The lead Starkwood scientists Tom Chapman loaded the prion variant onto some PYTHON missiles, and the rockets were loaded with RP-7 rocket fuel. Hodges then used the rockets to force President Allison Taylor to meet and accept his demands.

CDC official Ben Landry briefed Taylor and the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the weapon. Also, Sunny Macer explained to Jack Bauer that a treatment for the prions was theoretically possible: stem cells from a compatible family member could be used to save his life (in his case, daughter Kim Bauer). But the likelihood of success was completely unknown.

Within a few hours, Tony Almeida exploded some of the RP-7 fuel using C4 charges, and the extreme heat of the inferno wiped out the prion particles in the rockets. One container of the prion variant was smuggled out by Galvez for Tony Almeida, however, and remained a threat despite the capture of the Starkwood compound.