Originally Posted By: BigCityHillbilly
Originally Posted By: gizmojumpjet
Rabies can be transmitted via organ and tissue transplant, so I don't think that's correct, but I'm no guru.


I don't believe that the rabies virus can survive after being cooked at a high enough temperature for a decent length of time.

But then again, maybe I'm wrong about that.

I'm not sure if there's a "field expedient" method for determining if the carcass was infected by a disease such as rabies or tuleremia, other than by simply taking note of the warning signs that Taurus brought up (foam at the mouth, bloating, horrible smell, etc.). I suppose that all you can do is to cook the meat thoroughly and then hope that the heat is going to kill whatever microscopic organisms may be lingering in the critter's carcass post mortem.


You're right in a sense. Sure, cooking meat to a given temperature will destroy everything except prions. On the other hand, simply knowing that cooking to a given temperature will kill virus X or parasite Y isn't sufficent, due to cross contamination issues. Even wearing gloves doesn't guarantee you can't contract something from your given prey animal due to the possiblity of knicking yourself with a knife or bone in the process of skinning it.

Please don't eat animals you know to be rabid. It's not the same thing as giardia. It sort of goes back to that excellent aphorism regarding drinking dirty water if you absolutely have to. A doctor can fix giardia, he can't fix dead. With extremely few exceptions, he can't fix rabies, either.