Eli5: If pigs are 98% genetically similar to humans. Why do humans not get sick from eating pig meat like if humans cannibalized another human?

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Answer 1

Cannibalism itself won’t hurt you, unless you eat diseased food, and you’ll be less picky if starving.

The typical issue is prion disease, which is caused by a misfolded protein. Cooking the meat DOES NOT (Fixed. Thanks /u/OptimisticOctopus8) prevent prion disease. This misfolded protein will cause your own proteins to misfold which each then cause more of your proteins to misfold, and so on.

From what I remember, this is most common if you eat the brain or stuff around the nervous system. Try to avoid doing that, even if starving.

Even with taking precautions and opting out of cannibalism, you may still get prion disease. Good luck.