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Kuru Disease: Done By: Vaishali Patel Class: Disease Instructor: Katherine Zhoa

Kuru is a prion disease that was first discovered among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in the 1950s. It results from eating the brain tissue of deceased family members as part of their funeral rites. The disease causes neurological symptoms like tremors and difficulty walking that get progressively worse until death. It was determined to be caused by abnormal prion proteins and was the first human prion disease shown to be transmissible. Banning cannibalistic funeral rites in the 1950s caused the disease's incidence to decline. There is no treatment or cure for kuru.

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82 views10 pages

Kuru Disease: Done By: Vaishali Patel Class: Disease Instructor: Katherine Zhoa

Kuru is a prion disease that was first discovered among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in the 1950s. It results from eating the brain tissue of deceased family members as part of their funeral rites. The disease causes neurological symptoms like tremors and difficulty walking that get progressively worse until death. It was determined to be caused by abnormal prion proteins and was the first human prion disease shown to be transmissible. Banning cannibalistic funeral rites in the 1950s caused the disease's incidence to decline. There is no treatment or cure for kuru.

Uploaded by

vaishali patel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Kuru Disease

Done By: Vaishali Patel


Class: Disease
Instructor: Katherine Zhoa
Introduction
 Kuru is a type of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy
(TSE).
 Kuru is a disease of the nervous system.
 Kuru is the first human prion disease that was shown to be
transmissible to chimpanzees by intracerebral introduction of brain
homogenates form patients.
 Kuru is an incurable degenerative disorder.
 Also known as Laughing Death. The cause of this disease is
abnormally folded prion proteins (Proteinaceous infectious
particles)
 The disease was a result of cannibalism, a ritualistic practice where
tissues of the brain of the deceased were cooked and consumed.
 Kuru affects the brain by slowly eating it away
History
 Kuru was discover first in the villages of New Guinea in the 1950s.
 A young man called Michael Alpers first learned about the Kuru disease in
the Adelaide Advertiser in the year 1957. After he graduated from medical
school in 1961, he decided to take on an adventure to Papua New Guinea
where he would discover the cause of the strange laughing death sickness
that had plagued the Fore locals.
 The fore tribe of Papua New Guinea ate every part of their deceased
including their bones and feces. This practice known as endo-cannibalism
means eating of dead relatives
 With a ban on ritualistic cannibalism in the mid-1950s imposed by
Australian authorities, the incidence of the disease started to decline steadily.
 Kuru epidemic killed 1-2% of the population at its peak.
Symptoms
Difficulty walking
Poor coordination
Difficulty swallowing
Slurred speech
Moodiness and behavioral changes
Dementia
Muscle twitching and tremors
Inability to grasp objects
Random, compulsive laughing or crying
Kuru occurs in three stages
 In the first stage – A person with kuru exhibits some loss of bodily control. They may have
difficulty balancing and maintaining posture.
 In the second stage, or sedentary stage - The person is unable to walk. Body tremors and
significant involuntary jerks and movements begin to occur.
 In the third stage - The person is usually bedridden and incontinent. They lose the ability to
speak. They may also exhibit dementia or behavior changes, causing them to seem
unconcerned about their health. Starvation and malnutrition usually set in at the third stage,
due to the difficulty of eating and swallowing. These secondary symptoms can lead to death
within a year. Most people end up dying from pneumonia.
How is kuru diagnosed?
 Neurological exam
 Your doctor will perform a neurological exam to diagnose kuru. This is a comprehensive medical exam including:
 medical history
 neurological function
 blood tests, such as thyroid, folic acid level, and liver and kidney function tests
 Electrodiagnostic tests
 Tests such as electroencephalogram (EEG) are used to examine the electrical activity in your brain.
 MRI
 Electromyography
Treatment
 There is no cure
 No treatment
 Kuru is always fatal
 Prions that cause kuru can’t be easily destroyed.
 Brains contaminated with prions remain infectious.
Prevention
 To prevent Kuru, the only known way is to not practice cannibalism.
 Chances of contracting Kuru will also be decreased if you quarantine yourself from tribal
regions of Papa New Guinea.
Kuru – Michael Alpers Story

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