We have a new disease brought by the meat-raising industry that “brought Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, both implicated from the brains of sheep and cattle. It is known by two terms, Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy and Immune Polyradiculoneuropathy (IPR). . . . They indicate that the disease involves inflammation of the spinal cord, has multiple neurological symptoms, gets worse, and affects the immune system.
Symptoms are remarkably similar to multiple sclerosis and arachnoiditis. They include pain, especially in the legs, weakness, fatigue, and sensory disturbances.
All of the victims are employees in pork slaughtering plants. They harvest pig brains by blowing them out of the heads with compressed-air guns. . . . It’s believed that aerosolized pig brains, which are breathed in by the workers, are the cause.
At this point, there is no explanation of what it is in pig’s brains that cause such symptoms.”
The first case was identified in September 2007. Since then, a total of 18 cases have been confirmed.
It is not known if the disease can be transmitted from human to human.