RABIES

Rabies, from the Latin word "rabies" meaning "madness", is a viral disease transferred from animal to animal through saliva and blood. The virus has such brutal and specific neurological effects that it has been marked throughout history, with its first mention over 3,000 years ago.

The virus typically enters the body through a skin puncture and wends its way to the central nervous system where it rapidly causes the brain to swell. Depending on the location of viral entry the pathogen can take months or even years to reach the CNS.

The virus travels through the blood brain barrier where it is protected from the body's disease fighting cells. This relative safety allows it to mass produce itself for concentrated release in the host's saliva and tears. In fact, one of the main symptoms of rabies infection is a marked increase in saliva and tear production as the virus hijacks the saliva and tear ducts to ready itself for the leap to another victim.

The dementia and mood swings caused by the illness are spectacular. Victims often become aggressive and violent as the virus attacks their brains. A combination of saliva production and other neurological changes cause the tell-tale symptom of hydrophobia, in which patients become terrified or aggressive when presented with water, and even though they are dying of thirst, cannot bring themselves to drink. It is the combination of this lack of hydration and over-production of saliva which causes the disease's trademark "foaming at the mouth."

Death from respiratory arrest occurs between 2-10 days after the first "flu-like" symptoms appear.

Once the virus has begun causing physical symptoms in the victim there is no standard treatment protocol, and the patient is expected to die. There have only been 6 reported cases in medical history of survival once Rabies had become symptomatic. One of these survivors, Jeanna Giese, was a WI teenager, who was spared from death in 2005 when doctors induced a coma in tandem with pharmaceutical intervention. This treatment has been replicated in subsequent cases without success.

Prophylactic Vaccination, however, has an almost 100% success rate at preventing the onset of symptoms. If a victim recognizes that they may have come in contact with the virus and seeks medical help before the virus has reached the CNS, it is extremely unlikely that they will ever get the full-blown disease.

This sick can be easily thwarted if caught early, but is truly one of the most horrific diseases if allowed to progress to its symptomatic stage. So, I give this sick a:
6 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 6 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)

KURU

Kuru (Mad Human Disease) is a PrP (prion) related disease (see Fatal Familial Insomnia) that causes neurological effects such as truncal ataxia, headaches and uncontrolled tremors ultimately leading to death. Kuru is transmissible between humans via the consumption of an infected person's flesh. The brain meat, in particular, is highly infectious because the prions exist there in a higher concentration.

Kuru was endemic to the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. Fore tribe members practiced ritual canibalism as part of burial ceremonies. The men of the tribes ate the best cuts of meat while the women and children were left to consume the organs and brain. It is thought that this difference in consumption practices caused the increased prevalance of Kuru seen in the women and children of the Fore tribe.

Scientists conjecture that the outbreak of Kuru which plagued the Fore tribe began when they consumed someone who had been suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a similar prion-based illness.)

In Kuru, death occurs within 18 months of the onset of symptoms. However, like its cousins Mad Cow Disease and FFI, the disease can be latent for up to 40 years from the time of contraction.

Because this sick is fatal and is passed through canibalism, I give this sick a
7 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 7 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)