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Many people know that drinking blood is really not the safest thing in the
world, but at the same time close their eyes to the reality of just what causes
it to be unsafe. A fact I find disturbingly common. For sanguinarians this can
be a serious subject, and one that I have found few know that much about. I
have broken the risks of blood-drinking into two pages, this one, on Blood-Borne
Diseases, and a second on Other Blood-drinking Risks On to the info:
AIDS
I would hope that this would be obvious, but I know that as soon as I say
that there are those who do not know that AIDS is a blood borne disease. It
is a pretty nasty one at that. AIDS is caused by HIV which is a retrovirus.
This means that it infects the host cell by injecting its RNA, transcribing
it to DNA, and then the DNA incorporates itself into the host DNA. Once incorporated
it is EXTREMELY hard to get rid of, since it is then part of your own DNA.
There is no known cure for AIDS currently and it is fatal. The virus itself
is not fatal, however. What it does is attack the immune system of the infected
person so it cannot respond to the virus. By killing the immune system it
allows for other diseases to enter the body unhindered, which eventually kills
the person. The person can feel perfectly healthy and be harboring the HIV
virus. Outward signs do not appear, usually, until it has transformed into
a full AIDS case. The difference in HIV and AIDS is that AIDS is when the
T-cell (white blood cells in the immune response) drop below a certain level.
Prevention:
Since there is no known cure for this disease, the only way to protect yourself
is to have your donor regularly tested, as well as yourself. Do not take their
word that they are "clean" be sure to see the results before drinking
from them. Though it is known that the digestive juices can kill the HIV virus,
if you have any small cuts or scratches in your mouth or throat, bleeding
gums, or a sore/burnt throat, it is possible to contract the virus before
it even reaches your stomach. So, play it safe and don't drink from someone
who is infected.
HEPATITIS
There are multiple forms of this disease each with letter name designations
(Hepatitis A, B, C, etc.).
Hepatitis A: Not blood borne, though
does fall under Hepatitis category so I included it here. Infects the liver
and causes yellow skin and eyes (jaundice), brown/tea colored urine, diarrhea,
fever, loss of appetite, and stomach pains. (From Hepatitis A fact sheet)
Prevention:
Again, testing. Also there is a vaccine for this disease as well as one
to stop its effects if found soon enough.
Hepatitis B:
Symptoms are: tiredness, loss of appetite, fever, vomiting, yellow skin and
eyes (jaundice), dark-colored urine, and/or light stool. It is possible to
be a carrier of Hepatitis B without ever showing any signs of it, and this
is a common occurrence. It can be spread through blood to blood contact, but
doesn't have to. If the virus comes in contact with the eyes, mouth or mucus
glands it can cause infection as well.(From Hepatitis B fact sheet)
Prevention:
TESTING! Also there is a series of vaccines available for this disease which
came out recently. It can also be spread through other bodily fluids, so
protect your self sexually as well.
Hepatitis C:
Can be infected from blood to blood contact. Also present in semen, vaginal
fluids tears, and saliva. The most common and easiest way to get it is blood
to blood contact. Like AIDS, it can enter the blood stream through tiny cuts
and rough or burned places in the mouth. Symptoms are much like those for
the other Hepatitis forms.
Prevention:
If you or your donor received a blood transfusion prior to 1992 have yourself
tested for this disease. Red Cross Screening for this disease was only started
in 1992 and so it is possible to have become infected from infected blood.
Donors to the Red Cross were at no risk, however. Testing is most important
to prevent Drink to Drinker spread of the disease.
SYPHILIS
Mostly known as a Sexually transmitted disease, it is a blood to blood spreader
as well. Caused by a bacteria, unlike the previous diseases. Symptoms include
rashes, headaches, sore throat, swollen glands, and large patches of hair
loss. It can be spread from mother to child during birth, as well. Late stage
infection can cause permanent heart, brain, skin and bone damage.
Prevention:
For the 50th time, TESTING!! It can also be treated with penicillin or other
antibiotics. (From Syphilis Fact Sheet)
PRIONS
These are mutant proteins that cause "Mad-Cow Disease" (bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE), Scrapie (BSE in sheep), Crutzfjeld-Jakob
Disease (BSE in humans abbreviated CJD, inherited), new variant CJD (abbreviated
nvCJD, BSE and Wasting Disease in humans), Wasting Disease (in Elk, Deer,
and other wild ungulates (deer-like animals), and Kuru (A form found in mostly
cannibalistic societies). Essentially, the protein is ingested from contaminated
blood or meat, travels to the brain, and mutates the "normal" prion
proteins in the brain. As this continues, those mutated protein, make other
mutated proteins and eventually your brain looks like Swiss-cheese. Causes
neurological problems, forgetfulness, tremors, seizures, and eventually brain
death. That's the bad news, the good news is that BSE has not yet been found
in the United States, and that the prion responsible for Scrapie (which IS
in the USA) doesn't appear to be able to infect humans. Contamination usually
occurs when the animal is being killed, and the butcher passes the knife into
neural (brain and spinal cord) tissue. This allows the prions to moves out
onto the meat. Prions are EXTREMELY hardy for proteins...they can withstand
high heat without loosing potency, freezing, and formaldehyde. For more detailed
information, and the disease relation to cannibalism, see the article Prions,
Kuru, Cannibalism, and Sanguinarians
Prevention:
Care. Be very careful. If you live outside the USA, I wouldn't suggest butchers
blood, inside the US, beef is all right, I would avoid sheep blood, though.
Pig is the best, though, since swine do not seem to be susceptible to the
prion proteins (because of this, it is still legal to feed by=products of
cows and sheep to pigs, though it is illegal to feed cow and sheep byproducts
to cows, sheep, and goats). Because of its presence in wildlife, if you get
your blood while hunting wild deer, I wouldn't drink the blood and be very
careful how you butcher. There is no cure for nvCJD, and it takes awhile for
symptoms to appear.
This list will be added to as time goes on. If there are other blood borne
diseases that you know of please let me know as well so I can add them here.
Thanks! Links used in the making of this page:
Center for Disease Control
HepNet.com
AIDS Education Global Information System
Syphilis
Fact Sheet
This article is presented as part of an ongoing effort to present other views outside of, as well as within, the online vampire community. Those of us who consider ourselves vampiric don't always look at things from the same viewpoint due to our life experiences. As such, the views and opinions contained in this article are entirely those of the author(s), and may not necessarily be shared by SphynxCatVP. The webmaster is not under obligation to update or otherwise keep current the contents of this article. Most importantly, only you can decide for yourself whether this article or any of the author(s) other views are useful or applicable to you - you are responsible for using your own reasoning and judgement, so judge wisely.
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