Do cannibals get mad human disease?

I'm asking that half tounge-in-cheek.

I'm very curious though if anyone has an answer, though. I've been wondering for some time.

The thing I'm thinking of specifically, is if there is a "Mad Human Disease," then what proportion of human, and for how long, would have to be consumed for the abnormal proteins to develop? Does it have to actually be digested, or not? Could it develop, for instance, from several blood transfusions? Or bone marrow? Or organs?

God, I know that sounds like a B-movie plot, but I'm honestly curious...

I have read that in some locations where cannibalism took place, that the people did develop a similar disease.

The name of the disease is Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

In Papua New Guinea, there is a variant of the disease they call kuru.

Edit to add: It's a prion disease, which effects usually only brain tissue or neural tissue. I guess neural tissue is like spinal cord and stuff, but not entirely sure.

[edit on 8/3/2008 by Ceara]

Just as surely as an astronaut gets missle toe. Yuk, Yuk , Yuk. LOL!

If a cannibal eats a relative, is it considered insest?

reply to post by Ceara


Hmm... I always thought that CJD came from humans eating cow flesh infected with prions? Woulnd't it be different with human flesh--do prions form different strains like germs, or are they all the same?

So is this kuru that you refere to from eating cows, or from eating people?

Originally posted by Curious_Agnostic
If a cannibal eats a relative, is it considered insest?

Oh, that's a whole other layer of sick

And I love the avatar!

reply to post by asmeone2


It's still named the same disease name, but is a variant. Because basically both eat holes in the brain tissue, in a manner of speaking.

It's kinda like mushroom and plant classification for example. Some are classified with the same exact name but with a "var." in the title followed by another name, usually the name of the country or part of the world where it was found. Like Cubensis for found in Cuba or Canadensis for found in Canada. Although it may have those variant names attached, they might still be found outside of their native habitat, especially if transferred.

According to the Wiki page for kuru, mostly the women and children developed the disease because in their funerary traditions, the men would eat the flesh while the women and children were stuck with the leftovers.

Yuck.

I'm not entirely sure they still eat their dead over there though after scientists explained what could occur. There are mixed reports and I don't know what really goes on there in Papua New Guinea. I'm just a good Google user.

You could have located the same info if you did some web searching too.

reply to post by Ceara


Ah, thanks for the info! I'm sorry that if it came off as a request for an information-dump this late at night, but you just seemed to know what you were talkign about.

Anyways, besides the actual eating of people, i wonder if transplants and transfusions will be a problem in the future, because of the prions, sort of the way that vaccines are starting to backfire.

reply to post by asmeone2

Any animal can get it from eating the neural tissue of another infected animal.
There's no way to sterilize surgical instruments that have been exposed.

The thing about it being just cows or sheep or whatever was propaganda so that livestock operators could continue feeding the corpses of dead afflicted animals to animals of different species; they invented a new name for the affliction in each species to imply that it wasn't contagious between species.

I've heard three separate reports of the "first" case of human "mad cow"
disease over the last twenty years, three separate cases. Many suspect it's often misdiagnosed as Alzheimers, possibly deliberately.

This is not Googled, but my current state of knowledge because I do read a lot about medical stuff. It fascinates me and always has. But I'll never work in the medical field. I almost did though, until I saw some of what really goes on in places like the ICU outside of visiting hours. It isn't pretty.

Anyway, this "mad" disease is usually contracted by ingesting material from either the brain, spinal fluid, or something contaminated during the butchering process. I'm always worried about it too because we use beef or pork ribs a lot in cooking here at home.

It has somewhat of an incubation period and doesn't show up right away.

Honestly I don't think the medical field even knows if transplants or transfusions will be a problem in future. I'm not even sure they have a detection test for humans in the early stages and never bother to even look for it until a problem occurs.

That's the scary part.

Do the prions hang out in the blood or organs in general or are they attracted to neural tissue only? *shrugs* Don't have an answer for that one.

Due to the incubation period, I guess it'll take another 10-30 years before they know something.

Don't worry about the "information dump." I don't mind looking up some things some times. I learn new things when that happens. Just spent a few hours learning about gourmet mushroom cultivation. hehe

[edit on 8/3/2008 by Ceara]

First of all it depends if the the cannibal is eating a free range human.
Is the human organic, is it a kobe human?
There are many many variables.
A good rule of thumb is to make sure the human is well cooked and avoid jalapenos for now.
Then you know, there is the whole "nouvelle fusion cannibalism" thing going on.


[edit on 8/3/2008 by schrodingers dog]

reply to post by asmeone2


Yes, humans do get sick from practicing cannibalism.

Wikipedia : Cannibalism

It comes from eating the brains of another human being, I forget the actual name of the disease but I read it in a fiction book and looked it up one time. Eating the brains, in the cannibalists "society" if you can call it that, it supposed to be a delicacy.

In the circle it was practiced in the pirate days, when people were shipwrecked together, it was referred to as eating "long pig" in the euphamism of an animal to lead the unsuspecting into the trap of desiring it, while the ones leading them astray verbally were setting them up to be dinner.

That Wikipedia link there will answer almost any question as well as provide links of heaps of information to read about it. I read a lot on various topics and it mainly has been talked a lot about in pirate lore and history.

Jeffrey Dahmer was known for his pratice in cannibalism in that they found all sorts of evidence in his home.

The question is, was he mad before he began dining on "long pig" or after?

Makes you wonder if he was continually reminded by mommy dearest to always clean his plate.

[edit on 3-8-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


Man, I'm gonna have nightmares from the movie "Hannibal" because of you.
How can there be so much cannibalism going on that we have developed delicacies?

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

Prion Disease

The brain diseases, called prion diseases, are characterized by loss of coordination, dementia, paralysis, and eventually death. Modern examples include Creutzfeld Jacob disease and kuru in humans and mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in animals.

The diseases are caused by mishappen molecules that clump together and accumulate in brain tissue. These molecules, called prion proteins, normally reside on the surface of brain cells, though their function is unknown.

Scientists believe the mishappen prion proteins somehow cause normal prions to form incorrectly, making it easy for them to clump together. These clumps cause the formation of small cavities in the brain similar to holes in a sponge.

From: national geographic

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

 

Man, I'm gonna have nightmares from the movie "Hannibal" because of you.
How can there be so much cannibalism going on that we have developed delicacies?

I never said I believed in it, nor practiced it.

Cannibalism has been around for a long, long time.

I was only talking about the why and I saw some of that on the History Channel as well.

I could switch to the information I know about cats and dogs, but that would be off topic.



[edit on 3-8-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]