#cw prion disease

[monochromayhem]

So I messed around on r/OriginalCharacter and

I’m… guys pick me up I’m scared how did I write any of this

[mizuribbons]

getting a new hyperfixation can be great! but why the fuck do i have to now have a hyperfixation on fUCKING PRION DISEASES OF ALL THINGS.

[tropicalcontinental]

[the-boring-distopia]

I love the Locked Tomb series, when the Third were introduced I was seriously thinking that the reason Ianthe was so thin and sick was prion disease. You know, from munching on people. This was one of my original headcanons, I honestly thought I was one step ahead the plot until the finale happened.

Even if it's not the case, I'm still curious how Third necromancers avoid getting it.

This is kind of a theory post but bare with me.

(cw: cannibalism, illness)

There is a prion disease called Kuru that spreads via cannibalism, especially by eating the brain. But there are other prion diseases that a person can get infected with and they spread by consumption of meat or coming into contact with an infected animal. In this post we assume that the most common of these diseases in the Locked Tomb universe would be Kuru, because of all that cannibalism, we can also assume that it can be inherited from the mother.

This would have heavy and fairly interesting social consequences on the Third:

There is not really a treatment. If you get it, you have it, forever - unless the necromancers found a solution in the last ten thousand years. But even if they did invent a cure, being a cavalier and having it is probably a career ender, because no necromancer would risk catching an illness that could destroy their brain on top of being physically weak and frail. That means that people who have it are most likely shunned or avoided, depending on how authorian Ida is the individuals might be restricted or marked in a database. It can be passed down from mother to child and the nine houses care a lot about health and genetics, it's not impossible that they might limit an individuals ability to have children if they are infected.

Prion diseases are difficult to keep track of because they have a long incubation period when the host does not experience any troubles, and then it's either long, consistent decay or instant critical condition. It's kind of like rabies in a sense that preventing it is the first line of defense. In a society where a large number of people regularly consume human tissues there are probably insane regulations. With necromancy almost being a religious ritual there is probably a body in the government that tracks cav-necro pairs and runs tests on them regularly to make sure they are healthy. Wanna go to space? Health check. You wish to join the royal guard? Health check. You just arrived from the sixth and hope to see the Idan library? You guessed it: quarantine and health check.

The main danger of prion diseases is mental decline, brain problems, memory loss, seizures and loss of motor control. Statistically a number of necromancers would get it despite the regulations, and they would experience Alzheimers like symptoms, insomnia, terrible headaches and their self-regulatory systems shutting down (no longer feeling hungry or tired because of brain damage). Human society has a terrible track record with mental illness, we did things to people in the past that are worse than death. How would a society like Ida deal with a crisis of their necromancers (and most likely their children) deteriorating into corpses? Would there be care homes? Institutions? Would they be declared a danger and "disposed of"? This would also make every necromancer from Ida suspicious to other houses where this kind of cannibalism is not common: they are a liability. Imagine the stress of being a necromancer from Ida and getting a terrible headache one morning, you feel groggy and slow, and instead of knowing this is one of those days you fear for your life because what if you somehow got infected? What if someone poisoned you? If you have political opponents, it's not even that far off. The government can probably accuse you of showing symptoms and remove you from the public eye, forever, if you speak up against them.

And as a last thing: with the risks listed, the whole thing is probably not worth it, unless Jod somehow gave them magical immunity against it. It would cost money, time, resources to test all these people when the simpler solution is just, not eating the flesh of other people? Hair and nails are probably fine, but flesh? No.

In conclusion, cannibalism is a perfect metafor for supressed lesbian yearning but from a technical standpoint it would be a pain in the ass.

[stoneagedevil]

If you are still taking requests, I have one for you 🥺 how would Hannibal and Anton react to the reader having cardiomyopathy (aka a weak heart). Because of her condition reader faints a lot and is danger of going into cardiac arrest if she gets scared or frightened. If you don’t feel comfortable taking this request, please feel free to ignore it. Thanks, love your work! :)

IMAGINES/HEADCANONS: Anton Chigurh x Reader | Hannibal Lecter x Reader

Reader with a weak heart/fainting condition.

TW/CW: Fainting, death, guns, cannibalism, reader being described as pretty, medication, break in.

——————

HANNIBAL:

Because you’re so heavily affected when frightened, both would tread extremely lightly around you. Of course, there’s only so much one can do when you lead the lives Hannibal and Anton do.

Hannibal would do everything in his power to keep you from finding out who he truly is. His worst nightmare had turned from his inner circle becoming wary of him, to you finding out, leaving him, fainting, or even going into cardiac arrest. He’d kill anyone for you as to not actually kill you because of your condition.

If the chance comes where you do faint around him, he’s incredibly quick in noticing the signs. If he can smell cancer, he can definitely sense days when your condition is a little worse than usual. He immediately wraps a cautious arm around your waist when you mention you’re feeling lightheaded.

There was an incident where you fainted, nearly clipping your head on the sharp edge of his dining room table. If not your Hannibal practically diving to cup your head, there surely would’ve been a trip to the ER.

As a doctor, he reminds you of your medication, keeping an extra bottle on his person at all times as well. He picks up your prescriptions, always ensuring they’re the right ones, if there is a change in medication, he monitors you in order to make sure you have no adverse reactions to the medicine.

Hannibal takes great care in ensuring that there is no cross contamination when cooking his special cuts, and your dinner. Hannibal already has to be on his toes when seeing a doctor, as tests could reveal his prion disease, induced by his taste for human flesh. But Hannibal also has to be careful with how he feeds you. Hannibal already understands the risks of cannibalism, not particularly concerned about brain damage and the like, but with your condition, a prion disease could make your weak heart that much weaker.

Despite the fact that he enjoys feeding his victims to his inner circle of investigators, he’d sooner cut off his right hand than feed you people. After all, despite being animals in his eyes, no person could ever be good enough for you to eat….

lest it was him being served.

ANTON:

Anton shows his concern for you in a different manner. Under no circumstances are you allowed on his trips. Besides the chance of stray bullets catching in your flesh sending you into a panic that’s sure to affect your heart, you must be kept at a perfect temperature keep your heart healthy. Anton doesn’t let you leave in the cold. He doesn’t let you leave in the sweltering heat. If you need something, he’ll get it himself and probably get it done quicker too.

Anton keeps your medication stocked, checking over the expiration dates, questioning on whether or not you’ve taken your dose for the day.

Before tracking down a target, he makes sure you’ll be well taken care of while he’s away.

There was an incident where a target had managed to track down where you live. In a phone call, Anton felt the tables had been turned on him when his target said that he’d kill his partner. Llewelyn Moss might have failed in saving himself and his wife, but Anton would certainly not.

Your heart leaped at the sound of gunfire shooting out your lock, and you scrambled for the bedroom, quickly locking the door, opening the window, and diving under the bed. You sure as hell weren’t jumping out your window, as you were on the second floor. Your hyperventilating and rising blood pressure led you to feel light headed, your vision fading to black.

At the sight of the lock being shot into pieces, Anton’s chest tightened uncomfortably, and his brow scrunched almost imperceptibly. He kicked open the door quickly checking the corners of the house with his pistol. Of course, he’d navigated your home a billion times over, could even do so with his eyes closed. The man who’d promised to kill you didn’t stand a chance against him, but he wasn’t concerned about that. The concern was whether you stood a chance against the intruder. Checking the pulse of the man he’d shot, he quickly set off to find you.

He came to your bedroom door first, swallowing thickly when he saw the lock shot out as well. He drew his pistol, entering the room swiftly. He took notice of the window, rushing to it and looking down. Nothing. He closed his eyes, trying to listen for a sign of you - and wouldn’t you know it, he heard soft breathing from under the bed. He kneeled, peeking under the bedskirt, his eyes being met with your pretty face.

Of course. You’re smart, while you may not be able to fight very well due to your condition, you were incredibly sly and an excellent trickster. His lips quirked up slightly at the thought of the target looking out the window and deciding to turn back to the living room to find you outside, only to be met with the barrel of Anton’s pistol and a swift shot to the face.

He would drag your unconscious body out from under the bed, lay you softly down onto it, and time your pulse. After making sure you were truly safe, he’d shut the window, and turn the temperature dial to the right level for you and your heart.

He’d then take a seat next to your bed, watching your chest rise and fall until you woke.

——————-

Thank you so much for saying you love my work! I very much appreciate it. I hope I met/exceeded your expectations with this.

[ask-the-parabalis-gang]

E L A F I P H O B I A

INCLUDES: Patchy Skelter, Dr. Nick Orgon CWS: Phobic reaction, paranoia, hypochondria (specifically centered around prions and CWD), mentioned description of a car crash

Fallen leaves crunched underfoot as the two strode along the narrow path through the forest. Patchy’s wonder-filled expression at the beautiful foliage around her was heavily contrasted by Orgon’s, though she didn’t mind; the time they spent together was still a treasure to her. Soft humming mingled with the sound of wind that rustled the multihued leaves, pulling a few from their branches and blowing them toward the ground, all of which Orgon seemed oblivious of as his cold eyes remained fixed on the ground before him - at least, until his name was called.

“Dr. Orgon?”

He glanced over at Patchy, who was watching him quizzically. “Are you okay? Sorry, you just seemed a little, ah… preoccupied.”

Orgon’s gaze lingered on his companion for a few seconds before returning to the ground ahead. “Ms. Skelter, I’m always preoccupied,” he murmured, hoarse voice low despite the fact that the two were the only ones in the area. 

“Anything I can help with?”

Bright green eyes widened with hope as Patchy shuffled ever so slightly closer to Orgon, keeping just enough distance to ensure his comfort. He shook his head in response, however, eliciting a soft sigh from Patchy. 

“Oh well, if you ever need anything, let me know!” she said, a warm smile on her face. “I know I say that a lot, but I really mean it!”

Deep inside, Patchy knew that nothing would come from her words. It had been years since the incident, and nothing had changed. It didn’t matter to her too much, however - she still loved him all the same. 

These thoughts were quickly wiped from her mind as she looked back up ahead, and she gasped, flinging out an arm to halt Orgon in his tracks.

“Look!”

Her voice was a whisper-shout as she pointed up ahead at a small clearing. “There’s two of them - oh my goodness, they’re so pretty!”

Orgon peered up ahead at where Patchy was pointing, easily spotting what had gotten her so excited. Two deer were grazing up ahead, tall and auburn in the light of the setting sun, and at the sound of her awestruck voice, they lifted their heads to look directly at Orgon, watching him with wide, far-too-innocent eyes.

They were too close for comfort - why were they so close? Why weren’t they running away? They had to be diseased, that was the only logical explanation. They had no fear of him, and they could sense his own. They were going to come for him, for both of them, and infect them. There was nothing he could do to stop them.

Orgon could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he stared ahead, rooted to the spot yet so desperately wishing to move, to run, before something horrible happened just like it did before. He felt, so ironically that it was almost funny, like one of them, like a godforsaken deer - trapped in the headlights of eyes that were far too kind, knowing the contamination and sin that lay beyond them, contamination that seeped from those familiar eyes that he thought he knew and leeched into the hearts of the innocent, contamination that he could feel embedded into his skin with every touch, making him feel so, so unbelievably cold-

He was going to die.

“Dr. Orgon-?!”

The voice dragged him back to reality with a jolt so abrupt that it pulled a strangled gasp from his throat, and he took several steps back, hands clenching into fists as he pressed his eyes shut. His body shuddered, not just with the fear that he was trying so desperately to suppress, but also with a far-too-familiar chill that mingled with the memories lingering in his mind.

The horrific sound of shattering glass and ice mixed with that of twisting, breaking metal tore through him like the bitter, unforgiving cold that consumed in its entirety, rending the sanity from his heart and leaving behind nothing but pure, unbridled terror-

Yet his hands remained so, so warm. 

Opening his eyes once again, he could see Patchy before him, her hands gently gripping onto his own as she stared up at him with fright. 

“Doc- oh my goodness, what happened? Was it the deer? Did you see something? Did I do something? Oh my- here, take a breath, a deep breath with me, okay? You’re safe, we both are.”

Orgon’s fingers intertwined with Patchy’s as he looked up, staring past her for a moment - thank God, they were gone now, but they could come back. He had to get off this path, he had to get away from where the deer might’ve been in case they were contaminated, in case- 

“Doc, look at me. Please try to take a breath.”

He forced himself to look back at Patchy, shakily doing as she instructed and earning a somewhat relieved smile from her. Her hands squeezed his own as she prompted him to take another deep breath, and then another, until his hands had stopped shaking and it was ever so slightly easier to keep his focus on her.

“You’re doing a good job,” Patchy murmured, taking a small step closer to Orgon. “How are you feeling right now? You don’t have to tell me what happened if you’re not comfortable doing so, but-”

“I don’t like deer,” Orgon forced out through gritted teeth, his voice startlingly higher than usual. God, he sounded so weak - Patchy likely thought he was insane now, for having such a ridiculous fear. 

She hadn’t been there. All she saw were thin legs and twitching ears and wide, innocent eyes, not looking past their harmless demeanor and seeing disease, weakness, prions infecting those that were oblivious to their presence. Oh, how he longed to see innocence there too - how he wished to be oblivious as he had once been, long ago.

But she saw innocence in him, too, and that scared Orgon more than anything. He couldn't be oblivious, not when she was in danger, not when he could lose her.

“Oh- oh my goodness, I had no idea,” Patchy fretted, looking down. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t- I didn’t even know there was a phobia for deer! They’re just so cute - then again, so are dogs, and Pith has something similar too - I’m so sorry, I really didn’t know, but I’ll keep that in mind… do you want to go home now? Do you-”

“Yes.” Orgon’s gaze was fixed behind Patchy once again, where the two deer had once been. They were nowhere near that part of the woods, but he was still so afraid. Pathetic, really. He was pathetic - and still so goddamn cold. “I would like that.”

[selamat-linting]

WELCOME (new pinned)

✨ Erase, mid-20s but not mid, he/him and she/her. cwk (if you know you know). transmisogyny exempt, southeast asian, and very much broke. marxist-leninist with cringe interests, the block button is free to use btw. and im critical against religion and spirituality as a whole. im also critical against psychiatry and pro abolishing the family and marriage, and copyright laws. im open to people asking questions about basic dialectical materialism and indonesian politics / history ✨

Warnings :

-I try always, but im bad at tagging. esp for suggestive/sexual content. so, minors dni, sorry. feel free to drop an ask if i mistagged a post or forgot to put appropriate content warnings.

-anyway potentially triggering / squick posts are usually grouped in #mental illness posting, #suggestive, #nsft, #thirstposting #kink stuff #sa cw #suicide cw #abuse cw #religious trauma #religion #racism #transmisogyny #transphobia

-blank blogs get blocked

interests, personal lore, important posts to read and other stuff under readmore

Post Highlights

list of posts i recommend to read and use

list of us terrorism, political intervention, and war crimes against humanity

some reading material on usa's collaboration with nazis during the holocaust

short reading list about us imperialism

free palestine masterposts

family abolition reading list

japanese ww2 atrocities

donation links for palestine

For indonesians

i doubt there's many of you on tumblr but *shrugs*

a short thread on west papua's history

resources on free west papua (might need to use a vpn or anyonymox to access)

news, analysis, history, and general resource of learning indonesian politics/issues in both indonesian and english

Other resources

stuff around the web that could make your life easier

diy hrt wiki

free media and piracy resources

reddit's /r/piracy megathread (backup version on rentry)

Interests

(written as of november 2023)

Main fandoms : parahumans, homestuck, the locked tomb, slenderverse, disco elysium, pro wrestling, pmmm, yuyuyu

White boy of the month (has won this award since september 2023) : cm punk

characters i relate way too much for it to be normal : aradia megido, rose lalonde, taylor hebert, cunoesse, denji, ulixes the echo maker, ishmael (moby dick), johnny truant, jennifer check.

other hobbies : building houses in the sims 4, learn web programming, urban exploration (though im not doing this as often as i'd like these days), listening to music and going to local shows

other things i like : mice, prion disease, marine biology, piracy

currently doing : reading house of leaves, running a cm punk sideblog @punkitypunker, transforming the willow creek sims 4 world, going insane in general

[d1cks1e-st1x]

the characters i drew btw!!! a lot are off model cuz i drew them from memory

‼️ cw for mentions of pretty much every form of abuse, sexual assault, suicide, alcohol abuse, pedophilia and cannibalism. it’s a story with lots of dark themes please approach with caution. ‼️

Sebastian (chupacabra). butcher who sold human dubiously sourced meat. kept animals to keep up appearances of selling meat that was not a person and abused them more or less for the hell of it. died after contracting rabies from one of the dogs he kept. doesn’t look half bad for 30 (he is 21).

Chul Moo (kumiho). a serial rapist and murderer. but like we stay silly. killed himself to escape arrest. died with that cigarette in his mouth.

Delun (qilin). medical prodigy who made several healthcare breakthroughs and tried to distribute medical care for free. died by sudden respiratory attack and didn’t get medical attention fast enough. autism creature.

Abayomi (pheonix) (as a tiny doodle). a recovered alcoholic who became a substance abuse counsellor. carried a lot of guilt and self loathing about his alcoholism due to a fear of becoming like his father, who was also an alcoholic, and abused him and his other parent. died due to liver failure induced by a relapse. gods saddest most miserable creature.

Aishik (abaia). the youngest character, only 18 when he died. he worked at an orphanage. died trying to save a child when the building collapsed. all of the evil people make fun of him for actually having taken care of orphans like some kind of good guy stereotype.

Anna (wolpertinger). an elementary/middle school teacher who was so so niceys and would never ever ever do something bad (child molester). died after being poisened by one of her victims. women’s wrongs etc.

Chiyo (baku). a religious and spiritual leader who upon creation my sister realized was accidentally a little cult leadery but like she’s good like imagine if there was a cult leader but genuinely a good person who improved people’s lives. died due to complications with a variety of chronic illnesses. i wont her.

Austin (dropbear). cannibal <3. he was raised by a single mother until he was 4, when his mother died suddenly and due to a concoction of shock, intrusive thoughts, grief, panic, and being 4, he started eating her. was in the foster system until he ran away age 12 and started living on the streets. ended up eating another person out of desperation and from there began developing an addiction to human meat. died by kuru (cannibalism induced prion disease). has tapeworms.

and these two are some of the Watchers!! the Watchers don’t have names but the characters refer to these two as Ouruborus and Dog respectively. Ouruborus is more heavily featured in an alternate version of the story i didn’t explain here (it’s a tournament arc) and Dog is more focused on in the main story. the two are the main speaker in their respective paths.

the other 4 characters not featured here are Chris (kelpie), Kal (hellhound), Chime (snow lion), and Daiki (raiju). Chris and Kal are the two other Evil Guys and Chime and Daiki are the other two Good Guys.

sorry to Dove for debuting ur characters for you but like you weren’t going to smh i gotta do everything myself!!!!

You should draw some FBoWs of your choice

i drew so many fbows of my choice

dove hasn’t really talked abt these guys anywhere but uhhhhh i think they’re cool so i’ll talk abt them for her

these guys are from my sisters oc story For Better Or Worse (fbow). it’s a story set in the afterlife, where after death, humans wake up with the head of the animal they are deemed most similar to in life. they spend time in this afterlife realm until they feel closure, and in this time they gradually transform into their creature until they have fully changed, and then they’re reincarnated as that animal. the realm is run by Watchers, unsettling non human creatures who, though not malicious, cannot truly understand human emotion in the same way humans cannot truly know how ants feel.

the story focuses on 12 characters who were so exceptional in life that they woke up with the heads of mythical creatures. 6 were exceptionally good and 6 were exceptionally evil. they can’t reincarnate in these forms because their creatures can’t exist, so the Watchers tell them that they need to either Better or Worse in order to change into real animals and reincarnate. if they fully transform before getting better/worse then they’ll be stuck in the afterlife forever.

you should ask her abt them they’re really cool and swag!!!

[stainlesssteellocust]

I wonder if you can get kuru from eating your own flesh

[newdougsblog]

hi, can you please elaborate on that thing you said about prion diseases being transmissible via plants?? like wHat?

Hi, thanks for the question! I’m more than happy to elaborate ☺️

CW: Description of scientific experiments that caused harm to animals

An experiment done in 2015 (the full scientific paper can be found HERE) exposed plant roots to the brain matter from hamsters infected with prion diseases. (Yes, hamsters are often used in research related to prions, along with mice. That’s because they can serve as models for how the human body might react, and can be infected with infectious prion proteins derived from human tissues.) When other hamsters were fed these plants, they developed prion diseases. They also exposed the plants to waste from infected hamsters and deer and detected that the infectious prion proteins had attached themselves to the leaves and roots of the plants. Upon doing the same experiments with non-infected material, no such signals were found on the plants. Even infectious material in the soil can bind to the plant.

It’s quite an interesting experiment—the researchers exposed the plants to infectious materials from humans, deer, hamsters, and mice. All of them were detected in the plants. These results demonstrate prion protein’s resilience, adaptability, and efficiency in bridging biological barriers between species.

I totally rambled there, but I hope this answers your question!!

[snarp]

Now’s a good time for Mad Cow Disease to make a comeback in the US...

[newdougsblog]

So I was bored and started scrolling through the notes and reblog tags for this post and saw some really interesting questions/responses! If it's alright with y'all, I'd like to answer some of them to the best of my ability.

I've tagged the lovely individuals who posted the responses, so if that includes you, hello! If someone else already responded to what you said, I apologize in advance! I just think this stuff is very cool and enjoy talking about it.

I once again want to state that I am not an expert on prions, but currently work in a prion lab, which I would hope gives me a bit more knowledge and experience to work with than the average person when it comes to this topic. That being said, if I've said something that you know is blatantly wrong, please let me know! I'm always happy to correct and learn from my mistakes.

Ok, let's dive right in! Detailed conversation of prion diseases under the cut!

Quick shout-out to @grison-in-space who was spitting FACTS about the transmission of prions via soil. I unfortunately saw your reblog after I started making this post and am too lazy to transfer everything, but I see you, icon. Here's the post with their wonderful addition if you'd like to read about it: CHECK IT OUT!

On a very similar note, I'd like to start with this question someone messaged me with. I answered it in a post, but just want to promote it because making new friends is fun:

@extracrunchyboybutter

Sorry, friend, but I'm literally gonna copy and paste my answer to ya. Thanks again for the question, I really enjoyed answering it!

An experiment done in 2015 (the full scientific paper can be found HERE) exposed plant roots to the brain matter from hamsters infected with prion diseases. (Yes, hamsters are often used in research related to prions, along with mice. That’s because they can serve as models for how the human body might react, and can be infected with infectious prion proteins derived from human tissues.) When other hamsters were fed these plants, they developed prion diseases. They also exposed the plants to waste from infected hamsters and deer and detected that the infectious prion proteins had attached themselves to the leaves and roots of the plants. Upon doing the same experiments with non-infected material, no such signals were found on the plants. Even infectious material in the soil can bind to the plant.

It’s quite an interesting experiment—the researchers exposed the plants to infectious materials from humans, deer, hamsters, and mice. All of them were detected in the plants. These results demonstrate prion protein’s resilience, adaptability, and efficiency in bridging biological barriers between species.

@lockrum

When a regular prion protein misfolds, it can then "pass on" that misfolded conformation to other prion proteins, resulting in an accumulation of these misfolded, infectious proteins. The development of prion diseases is very similar to that of Alzheimer's. Both diseases are known as proteinopathies. A proteinopathy is a disease caused by abnormal protein structures that disrupt normal cellular and bodily functions. These similarities result in slight overlaps between our studies and those being done on Alzheimer's. Hopefully, we can help each other out!

...So to answer your question, it's not so much "asymptomatic." It's more that prion diseases have a very long incubation period. Very sorry for how sidetracked I got!

@wheatless

UGH YES YOU ARE SO RIGHT

Prions can withstand proteases (enzymes that catalyze and speed up the breakdown of proteins), heat, formaldehyde, and radiation. As a result, they can remain in certain external environments for years. They're very annoying.

@morgrimmoon

In regards to the transmission of CWD between animals and humans, studies have shown that it can be transferred to humans. My lab actually published one study about just that!

@fell-reverie

I totally understand and respect this point. That being said, I think there are a lot of ways to combat rhetoric. Approaching this specific argument from a scientific point of view is, in my opinion, the most effective way to do it. I'm not the most qualified individual to get into this point, though.

Nonetheless, this gave me and others the opportunity to talk about something that we think is super cool!

@acavatica

Ok this one just made me smile. I was just there like "that's me! I'm the prion researcher!!"

AND YES, PRIONS ARE TERRIFYING BUT THEY'RE SO. COOL.

@interplanet--janet

First of all: LOVE the username!

Second of all: Ohhhh that book sounds so interesting!!! Thank you for the book rec, friend!

Alrighty, that's all for now, folks! If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a nice holiday season free of prion diseases 😊

stop saying "cannibalism causes prion diseases" this is a common misconception

gonna preface this by saying I'm not trying to be weird or edgy here I just have an interest in diseases and find it frustrating to constantly see people spreading misinformation abt how they originate and spread

this misconception comes from an epidemic of kuru, a type of prion disease (you might also seem em referred to as TSEs) that broke out among the Fore people of Papau New Guinea in the 1950s. until colonial rule, the Fore people practiced a form of funerary cannibalism in which a loved one's flesh, including organs, would be consumed after they died. this practice isn't exclusive to the Fore, and has no profound inherent dangers; cooking and eating human flesh doesn't have any more health risks associated with it than eating the flesh of an animal. what started the epidemic wasn't the practice of cannibalism, but rather a stroke of incredibly, incredibly bad luck.

(more under the cut; there's cannibalism and disease talk, but nothing graphic.)

a prion disease is caused by infectious prions in the brain. this is a type of misfolded protein that can cause other proteins to become misfolded as well. the misfolding of these proteins results in a deadly neurodegenerative disease. CJD (creutzfeldt-jakob disease), one type of prion disease, is capable of spontaneously occuring in otherwise healthy individuals with no family history of the disease; this is likely what happened to one unfortunate member of the Fore community. most of the time, only contact with brain and spinal tissue transmit this prion disease, so the women and children who traditionally ate these tissues soon began to present symptoms of the disease. the rest is fairly self explanatory; the community has no experience whatsoever with the disease, so doesn't know how to stop the spread; the afflicted die, and when they are eaten, the disease spreads to a new set of people, they die, the disease spreads more, et cetera. this continues until the practice of funerary cannibalism is brought to an end, and the last known sufferer of the disease dies in 2009.

so there's a couple things to note here. firstly, CJD, the disease that likely struck the initial sufferer, is incredibly rare. it affects roughly one in a million people, and only 85% of these cases are the result of spontaneous generation. secondly, the only reason that it was able to spread to such a degree is because cannibalism was practiced regularly in this culture. to act as though any cannibalism (ESPECIALLY in a culture where cannibalism is not normal) will lead to prion disease is absolutely absurd. the likelihood of even encountering someone with a prion disease is wildly low, and even then, if the brain and spinal tissue are avoided, the disease most likely won't transmit between the consumer and the person being eaten.

ultimately, saying that cannibalism will give you a prion disease is as absurd as saying that going to the doctor for a blood transfusion is going to give you HIV. blood transfusion might be capable of spreading HIV, but in normal circumstances, this will not happen. there is nothing inherent to blood transfusion that causes HIV, just as there's nothing inherent to cannibalism that causes prion diseases. yes, cannibalism would most likely give you a prion disease; if you happened to live in a community that already regularly practiced cannibalism, where a prion disease was already running rampant. yes, cannibalism will give you a prion disease; if you happen to stumble into one of the one people per million who has one, fail to recognize a single symptom that might deter you, and then choose to eat brain or spinal tissue rather than meat.

once again, this isn't trying to be some weird edgy cannibalism joke, i just think it's important that people have an understanding of where diseases come from and how they spread. kudos if you read this whole tangent

[canned-goose-feathers]

hello! in my biology class we talked about prion diseases, and I thought of you! these are my shitty notes from class!

Prions are proteins found in the cell membranes of neural tissue (brain tissue) Prions despise is driven by the miss folded prison at the cell membrane level We don't know why The misfolded protein in the cell membrane alters its shapes This causes voids or gaps to occur in the brain tissue The brain takes on an appearance similar to swish cheese Severe neural issues and death How to treat? Idk there is no way No vac, not able to Can only avoid contact with prion Avoid contact with neural tissues from mammals White-tailed deer Cattle Wear gloves and avoid the brain The prion diseases are very slow may get in 20 and it shows in the late 40s Also debilitating In cattle, it is BSE - mad cow diseases Cw - chronic wasting - CJD - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Kuru disease Avoid contact, and don't eat brains!! Wear big gloves, to the elbow, and change clothes

you should really look up chronic wasting disease! its a fun read and you might be able to use parts of it!

Oh I'm very familiar with prion diseases. I work in large animal vet med, though BSE and chronic wasting aren't common in this region of the country. Kuru was originally found in the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, who had a tradition of funerary cannibalism, meaning they cooked and ate the dead family member to help free the spirit. Kuru was also more common in women and children as they were the ones that consumed the brain. As for chronic wasting disease, it's more commonly known when people talk about zombie deer.

What's fascinating (and horrible) are the methods which with we deal with animal prion diseases like BSE, CWD, and scrapie. Because there's so vaccination and no cure, essentially the only option is to kill every that caries it. Take sheep, for example. My family owned sheep. Sheep have scrapie tags that essentially says to the government "hey these sheep don't have scrapie and this is the information about these sheep". That includes owner information, sale information, etc. Why? Well, say you have a sheep that dies suddenly and you send the body off for a necropsy. The lab comes back and says "oh shit this bitch has scrapie." At this point the sheep's scrapie tag is tracked by the USDA all the way to your farm, to the farm you bought the sheep from, to the farm the sheep was born on, etc.

Then, generally all susceptible animals that were exposed are "removed". If the infection of scrapie is bad enough (long term over various Generations, spread through the whole flock, etc) the actual land itself can be sanctioned off as not to be used for livestock. Why? Prions are KNOWN for being both highly resistant and virtually undetectable. Prions can live in the soil for years without losing any pathogenic activity. Scrapie tags are now required for all sheep and goats not in slaughter channels or over the age of 18 months. Tldr: if your animals get scrapie, you can lose your entire flock and possibly your land.

Stuff like BSE has affected not just the farmers and livestock, but also what we eat via usda regulations. UK regulations are also pretty strict, mainly because they eat more lamb than we do.

Anyway I know a LOT about prions which heavily led into the naming of the au

[lucifers-golden-bitch-apparently]

Prions are proteins found in the cell membranes of neural tissue (brain tissue) Prions despise is driven by the miss folded prison at the cell membrane level We don't know why The misfolded protein in the cell membrane alters its shapes This causes voids or gaps to occur in the brain tissue The brain takes on an appearance similar to swish cheese Severe neural issues and death How to treat? Idk there is no way No vac, not able to Can only avoid contact with piron Avoid contact with neural tissues from mammals White-tailed deer Cattle Wear gloves and avoid the brain The prion diseases are very slow may get in 20 and it shows in the late 40s Also debilitating In cattle, it is BSE - mad cow diseases Cw - chronic wasting - CJD - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Kuru disease Avoid contact, and don't eat brains!! Wear big gloves, to the elbow, and change clothes

(also i missed you too!! ive missed my tumber friends, im in collage rn so things are funky💙)

woah okay

[pissfizz]

hey uhh any chance you can put a cw on the posts mentioning prion disease? Medical paranoia moment

Oh shit yeah sorry!!!