Kuru is a very rare, incurableneurodegenerative disorder which was prevalent among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in the 1950s and 60s. Kuru is caused by the transmission of abnormally folded prion proteins, which leads to symptoms such as tremors, loss of coordination, and neurodegeneration.
The term kuru derives from the Fore word kuria or guria ("to shake"),[1] due to the body tremors that are a classic symptom of the disease and kúru itself means "trembling".[2] It is now widely accepted that kuru was transmitted among members of the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea via funerary cannibalism. Deceased family members were traditionally cooked and eaten, which was thought to help free the spirit of the dead.[3]Females and children usually consumed the brain, the organ in which infectious prions were most concentrated, thus allowing for transmission of kuru. Thus, the disease was more prevalent among women and children.
The disease has lingered due to kuru’s long incubation period of anywhere from 10 to over 50 years.[4] The epidemic has declined, however, from 200 deaths per year in 1957 to 1 or no deaths annually in 2005.[5]
