It isn't often that you read about the same strange psychological ailment in two different publications in the same week. But I guess if you read the books I have been ploughing through, there is bound to be some crossover.
Today I bring to you koro vs kuru, as learned from The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse and Fortean Times.
First the icky. Kuru is disease of the Pacific islands of micronesia, Papua/New Guniea being the larges of this archipelago. This disease of the brain basically turns you head to mush. Well, more literally a sponge. And not the type that soaks of bubbles and you can scrub your tub with. Kuru is similar, and basically the human form of BSE, bovine spongiform encephapathy, more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. This is actually the native name for the disease acquired from canibalism. Whether this is true or not prions seem to be the cause. Prions being a strange protien that destroys the delicate tissues of our brain. Not a virus, not a bacteria, something else.
Everyone freaks out about Mad Cow Disease, but it has been much more common than we really allow ourselves to believe. Scrapies in sheep was known for decades before BSE came to the hot virus word of the past five years. Deer have a wasting syndrome that is also quite similar. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is another variant that people fear. But this is really rare.
Now for something completely different. Koro!
Picture this happening. You are a doctor and a man shows up at your office with a terrified look on his face. He promptly tells you, "A magician stole my penis." He stands there cupping his hands around his groin and truly believe it magically disappeared. That would be koro.
Koro is a psychological disorder in which people truly believe that their penis has been bewitched, stolen, or shrunk back into the body by evil magic. This originates from myth and magic of west Africa, but panics have moved to the Arab world, where West Africans are often accused of stealing boners from boneheads. The means of enacting this curse or blessing (let's face it we wish some people's sausage would fall off so they couldn't use or misuse it) was all via a handshake. Basically, this is mass hysteria run rampant.
In one such instance, I man went to the hospital with a heavy clamp attached to his penis to prevent it from vanishing. Now that is clever. More clever was a different man that went to the hospital with two friend holding and pulling his pecker so it wouldn't disappear. Imagine that conversation and resulting events, "Guys, my penis is shrivelling up and about to disappear! Quick grab on! Hold tight until we get to the hospital!" Sounds like bad pick-up line, but if this guy got his buddies to do it, and all dudes fear other men's penises (or they envy, sometimes it is hard to differentiate), imagine how it would work at some meat market in old town.
So yeah, Kuru bad in your head. Koro just in your mind. Guys should just stop thinking about their dick so much. Then there wouldn't be a problem. As for Kuru, you're just screwed and you won't be able to think about things.
Bad pun warning******* Koro could simply be called "Re-Dick-Cu-Less"
In other news. I have a new book on germs I am reading. I went rollerskating, two weddings, a bunch of birthdays, and the so forth. I am ready for a nap.
Perhaps it is time for me to read a novel. Oh yes and trivia night is tonight. I plan on winning this time.
