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A Man Contracted a Rare, Fatal Disease From Eating Squirrel Brains
Popular Mechanics ^ | October 17, 2018 | Avery Thompson

Posted on 10/18/2018 7:38:17 AM PDT by C19fan

According to a recently-uncovered medical case from 2015, one man may have died after eating one too many squirrels. His penchant for squirrel meat seems to have inadvertently exposed him to an incredibly rare fatal brain disorder, the first time this disorder was ever contracted in the United States.

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a rare brain disorder caused by misfolding brain proteins called prions. Prion proteins are unique in that when one is misfolded, it causes other prion proteins to misfold too. These misfolded proteins are unable to function properly, and the result is that the victim suffers from memory loss, dementia, psychosis, loss of coordination, and eventually death.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: disease; huckabee; mikehuckabee; squirrel; squirrels
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To: C19fan
an incredibly rare fatal brain disorder, the first time this disorder was ever contracted in the United States

Absolutely untrue. I worked with a man whose wife died of this several years ago. As far as I know, it had nothing to do with eating brains of any kind.

41 posted on 10/18/2018 8:34:46 AM PDT by Rocky (I have principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. - Groucho Marx)
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To: HangnJudge

Most likely, it is.

There are persistent rumors that children in the UK sacrificed during Satanic rituals are routinely ground into meat for human consumption as a way of disposing of the evidence.

There have been odd kuru type cases there.
(or so the rumor goes)


42 posted on 10/18/2018 8:36:31 AM PDT by Original Lurker
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To: al_c

he shoulda known with that turbin on it was bad


43 posted on 10/18/2018 8:42:38 AM PDT by aces
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To: BenLurkin

That ain’t right..Hillbillies are people too..we don’t eat squirrel brains unless we do it at the fancy eatin pool table../sarc


44 posted on 10/18/2018 8:44:16 AM PDT by aces
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To: peteypupperdoo

was the squirrel fed some kinda soy product by it’s dem owners, got pissed and developed squirrel head disease?


45 posted on 10/18/2018 8:45:29 AM PDT by aces
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To: C19fan

There was a cluster of C-J cases in Eastern Kentucky and all they had in common was that they ate squirrel brains but it was never proved that the squirrels were the source of the prion. If this was found then in retrospect the brains in those cases are highly suspect.


46 posted on 10/18/2018 8:46:56 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: miss marmelstein

Man I no longer eat meat but that brunswich stew of colonial days recipes rock! squirrel rabbit and deer..
we would have a iron pot swung into out fireplace on a 1700 fireplace boom simmering for days, the whole farm would eat from it.. Of course this was at a home of a slave descendant who was given rights to live on the farm for free for 4 generations.. i loved that old Black man, Grand dad would always say show respect to Him or you will regret it..just a kind old man who made some mean brunswich stew..


47 posted on 10/18/2018 8:50:12 AM PDT by aces
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To: EQAndyBuzz

damn you gotta grill that shi% till it’s cooked, squirrel sushi lol


48 posted on 10/18/2018 8:50:57 AM PDT by aces
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To: C19fan

The news here in England today is that a cow has been found in Scotland that died from BSE. The authorities are all over it.


49 posted on 10/18/2018 8:51:21 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: miss marmelstein
Poor people food.

Not really ,all true southern boys eat squirrels , you eat what ya kill. Know a few families down this way that save all the heads for a special occasion to cook. Not just the brains but the jowls and tongue have a special favor.

50 posted on 10/18/2018 8:54:12 AM PDT by piroque (The British couldn't take our guns once & I will be damned if it will this time ")
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To: al_c
#2: "Note to self: Don’t eat squirrel brains"

Good advice. News you can use!
 

51 posted on 10/18/2018 8:59:55 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!)
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To: Rocky

C-J disease can be acquired by consumption or transplant of prions, or it can be familial - some people have unstabled proteins that can flip into prions.


52 posted on 10/18/2018 9:02:54 AM PDT by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
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To: C19fan

We at squirrels all the time in the Ozarks but never considered eating the heads because they were usually messed up from the pellets.


53 posted on 10/18/2018 9:03:19 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: epluribus_2
Prions aren't bacteria or viruses. So they can't be cooked out or sterilized. It's like a cancer cell, but without anything to target to make the cells quit "infecting" the cells around it. So by the time a person tests positive for it, it's so far gone that there isn't anything that can be done.

When I worked for a medical logistics company, there was one instance where one of the [our] surgical kits were exposed to a patient who later tested for Prion disease.

Every single kit that was potentially used was quarantined and isolated. It took some legwork to trace everything down that was in that O/R. Once all traced, everything that was used in that surgery was quarantined, isolated, and eventually melted down for medical slag.)

In short, there is no way to medically sterilize prions to where they don't inflict the nastiness.

There is also no cure for it once you test positive for it. And it's not necessarily a fast death, either. Sometimes weeks, sometimes a decade.

54 posted on 10/18/2018 9:08:54 AM PDT by Maigrey (Life, for a liberal, is one never-ending game of Calvinball. - Giotto)
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To: z3n

“You wont get creutzfeldt-jakob or Mad cow (I thought these were different btw) if you thoroughly cook your ‘food’.”

Last I read, prions can survive temperatures that melt lead.


55 posted on 10/18/2018 9:16:41 AM PDT by dsc (Our system of government cannot survive one-party control of communications.)
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To: eastexsteve

I ate Squirrel Mulligan last Sunday after a victorious squirrel hunt. I feel fine!


56 posted on 10/18/2018 9:38:51 AM PDT by Proud White Trump Supporter
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To: C19fan

My Uncle Bob (from East TX) the loved hunting squirrels and more likely than not Smothered Rodent was on the table than not when visiting them on weekends. He certainly wasn’t poor he had a few oil wells pumping across the highway.

Not exactly my favorite thing for dinner and you had to mind the pellets because my Aunt usually missed a couple cleaning them I assume the heads were tossed...in the garbage not the pot. Her fried Okra though was heaven on a plate.


57 posted on 10/18/2018 9:46:42 AM PDT by Gasshog ( Fight climate change - Try beating the air and scream at the sky)
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To: z3n
You wont get creutzfeldt-jakob or Mad cow (I thought these were different btw) if you thoroughly cook your ‘food’.

The U.S. FDA begs to differ:

Will cooking (including microwave cooking) kill the BSE agent? Current scientific research indicates that cooking will not kill the BSE agent.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/fsis-content/internet/main/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/production-and-inspection/bovine-spongiform-encephalopathy-mad-cow-disease/bse-mad-cow-disease#18

Regards,

58 posted on 10/18/2018 9:50:47 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: alexander_busek

That’s messed up. Even more worrying as something I just read indicated you can have it without symptom showing up until after age 60. So you can be carrying it in a way.

Most of the stuff I just read about it not being destroyed by heat revolve around surgical instruments or implants, or in other words, having it transmitted directly. This leads me to believe that the combination of cooking and digestion(acid) are effective, but what you just cited speaks toward food consumption.

Is beef tested for this?


59 posted on 10/18/2018 9:57:05 AM PDT by z3n
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I was thinking the same thing. I had a very close family member die of this and it is just horrible.


60 posted on 10/18/2018 10:59:06 AM PDT by Phillyred
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