Wow good question, and it depends on what you're counting as a brain disorder.
Kuru would now be almost unheard of. This was a prion disease first discovered in the Fore people in the 1950s. This was a leading cause of death amongst women and children of the Fore people in the 50s. According to my neuropsychological encyclopedia:
"Ingestion of infected brain tissue through the practice of ritualistic cannibalism of deceased family members was identified as the primary mode of transmission."
I think this is only diagnosed 1 in a million per year.
@erajshahzad99 also makes a good point about CJD which is yet another form of prion disease. Prions are basically misshapen proteins that accumulate.
Other diseases such as an incredibly destructive encephalopathy subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) caused by the measles virus, is now very rare thanks to the mmr vaccines.
Again, the rarest brain disorder would depend on whether we think of the disorder as organic with a tangible lesion or tumour etc or whether we think of it in terms of neuropsychological presentation for instance acalculia (the acquired loss of mathematical ability) and alexia (the acquired loss of the ability to read.)
Kuru reference: The Encyclopedia of Neuropsychological disorders, Noggle. C, Dean. R and Horton. A.MN
Wow good question, and it depends on what you're counting as a brain disorder.
Kuru would now be almost unheard of. This was a prion disease first discovered in the Fore people in the 1950s. This was a leading cause of death amongst women and children of the Fore people in the 50s. According to my neuropsychological encyclopedia:
"Ingestion of infected brain tissue through the practice of ritualistic cannibalism of deceased family members was identified as the primary mode of transmission."
I think this is only diagnosed 1 in a million per year.
@erajshahzad99 also makes a good point about CJD which is yet another form of prion disease. Prions are basically misshapen proteins that accumulate.
Other diseases such as an incredibly destructive encephalopathy subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) caused by the measles virus, is now very rare thanks to the mmr vaccines.
Again, the rarest brain disorder would depend on whether we think of the disorder as organic with a tangible lesion or tumour etc or whether we think of it in terms of neuropsychological presentation for instance acalculia (the acquired loss of mathematical ability) and alexia (the acquired loss of the ability to read.)
Kuru reference: The Encyclopedia of Neuropsychological disorders, Noggle. C, Dean. R and Horton. A.MN