Why does cannibalism cause illness?

[corcoran42]

Well, law and threats to my personal health have stopped me from trying human meat... and moral qualms with killing people. but looking it up online I noticed something being said, but nowhere could I find any detailed science on it.

you know how mad-cow disease was caused by cows being fed beef? turns out that humans have their own version called kuru disease, which causes shaking and pathological laughter. Why does cannibalism seem to cause diseases that affect the brain and neurological systems of organisms? In my eyes a soylent product (human flesh) is just meat, but it's dangerous as all hell.

[hyun-su]

Because God made it like that so we wouldn't eat each other

That's why when People in the same family keep creating families with their brothers/sister their babies end up all crazy retarded and deformed

[panteno]

Both the mad-cow disease and kuru disease are caused by this strange protein called a prion in cows and humans respectively. It is strange in that this protein is infectious and causes neurodegenerative diseases. It is especially bad if a human eats the brain of another human because that is where the prions are most concentrated. Unfortunately, even cooking the body will not get rid of prions.

[gustav]

kuru is a similar illness to mad cow, it was first noticed in tribes in new Guinea, these tribes had a custom of eating the brains of the dead. once this practice ended the disease stopped.

[adare]

Kuru is caused by eating the brain of someone who has died of kuru. The prion that caused the dearly departed to dearly depart has not departed. It's still there ready to be ingested by its next victim. So stay away from the brains and bon apetit.