#idk if theres any other human ailments that are nearly entirely transmitted by cannibalism

[shoezuki]

AYYYYYYY KURU MENTION!!!! yea yea hell ya that one i Think is the only exception in that i dont think theres any other human-only transmissable disease that is spread through consuming human brain tissue. its a form of prion disease such as chronic wasting disease and mad cow disease but its one of or the only one that cant go from animal to human and vice verse. technically theres other ways of contracting it such as contact with open wounds but cannibalism is the primary way.

theres only ever been one documented epidemic of it in the Fore people of New Guinea and i find it really sad tbh because specifically they practiced a form of funeary/mourning cannibalism that involved consuming their diseased relatives so that they would 'live on' within them. it was actually most common for women and children to be the ones practicing so most cases of kuru impacted the Fore women and children. and its completely incurable and can take 10 to 50 years to really take effect so people were infected with kuru for decades without knowing.

kuru is considered nearly extinct or at least there hasnt been any deaths from it in like. a decade or more. because when the only prevention is not eating ur homies its p easy to not. do that. but ya dont eat the brains probably. or ppl at all

It's not cannibalism if you don't know it's a person.

On the flipside, it is cannibalism if you believe it to be a person even if it's not. (The communion bread counts lol)

AYYYYYY INNOCENT CANNIBALISM BABEYYYY. unknowing cannibalism intrigues me because it kindw shows the social construction of the taboo. like technically, unless the human had some disease or pathogen that can be transmitted orally, there isnt any physical/biological impacts of eating human flesh. at least not in comparison to animal meat. so its when someone/other people Know theyve eaten a person that the consequences occur. not that social/mental consequences arent less real than physical ones but its interesting.

but damn. damn. that does imply the inverse of believing/intending to eat human meat without actually eating it being. cannibalistic? it wouldnt be classified as ritual cannibalism but idk how exactly it would be considered. shit. fuck. bfbf