Kuru is a very rare,
incurable neurodegenerative 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]
