3 ms·
Good advice. Fortunately for the aspiring cannibal, however, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is very rare with an estimated prevalence of 1 case per million people pe
by afactcheck 1y ago
Good advice. Fortunately for the aspiring cannibal, however, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is very rare with an estimated prevalence of 1 case per million people per year [1], and it's exposure to prions through the eating of infected meat that allows transmission this way rather than cannibalism specifically.
There's a popular belief that cannibalism can cause prion disease. However, this seems not to be the case with famous outbreaks such as Kuru being the result of many members of the community eating or being exposed to the brain tissue of already infected individuals [2]. Concern of transmission via eating meat of animals with a prion disease was the reason for European bans on British Beef in the 90s and 2000s [3].
If you're concerned about exposure to prion disease then good news! They are rare diseases and research suggests that most (87%) of the few cases that do occur are due to protein misfolding in the individual (spontaneous CJD) rather than genetics (familial CJD) or prion exposure (iatrogenic and variant CJD) [4].
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20170704234755/https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet https://web.archive.org/web/20170704234755/https://www.ninds...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)#Transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)#Transmission
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy#The_ban_on_British_beef https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopat...
[4] https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fana.410430611 https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fana.410430611
- MrBuddyCasino 1y agoOn behalf of all of us cannibals, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude for this valuable contribution to our way of life.