Walsh & Hoyt: Kuru

Kuru (from the Fore word for ""shiver"") is a neurodegenerative disorder among the Fore highlanders of Papua New Guinea, where it is known as ""laughing death."" Gajdusek et al. reported the production of a kuru-like disease in chimpanzees by intracerebral inoculation of the animals with suspensions of brain tissue from patients with kuru after 20 months incubation. Kuru was once the most common cause of death among Fore women; however, the number of deaths per year related to kuru has steadily declined since the 1950s, and there have been fewer than 15 deaths from kuru per year since 1985. This decline in the incidence of kuru is attributable to the cessation of ritual cannibalism the consumption of dead kinsmen that previously had been practiced as a rite of mourning primarily by women and small children. No one born since cannibalism ceased in a given village has died of kuru. The incubation period of kuru in humans can be more than 40 years. Studies showed that the disease can be transmitted to experimental animals orally as well as by peripheral inoculation, and the disease does not seem to be transmitted through casual contact.