The Cannibalistic Kuru Disease

Kuru is an extremely rare disease that affects the nervous system and was the first human prion disease discovered, similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and another similar disease is found in cows, commonly known as ‘mad cow disease.’ It is caused by prion proteins that are found in the brain. Kuru is a part of a group of diseases called spongiform encephalopathy that cause the brain tissue to degenerate and replace your healthy brain tissue with cysts, making your brain look like a sponge.

Ultimately Kuru is caused by cannibalism by humans. In the highlands of Papua New Guinea around the 1950s researchers discovered there was an estimated 11,000 people part of a tribe called The Fore but 200 people in the tribe were dying each year from a disease the locals called Kuru, meaning shivering or trembling. People also called it the “laughing death” because you would lose control of your emotions over time. The locals thought it was caused by some kind of sorcery and It mostly affected the woman and children, so there weren’t many women or children around. 

At first it seemed that the disease was genetic, but later it was found out that it had to do with the funeral rituals conducted within the Fore. When someone died, during the funeral the dead body would be cooked and eaten as a way of expressing love and grief, as it was believed it would be much better to be eaten by your loved ones rather than being buried and eaten by maggots and worms. Most adult women would remove and prepare the brains for the feast, eating everything but the gallbladder. Men weren’t allowed to eat the dead bodies because it was believed only women could tame the evil spirit that came with the dead body. Children were susceptible to the disease because the women would give some of the ‘food’ to the children as ‘snacks.’ Scientists discovered later on that the likely cause of this epidemic of Kuru was that the Fore had a person that contracted the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and when this person died, the women consumed the prion proteins from the dead body causing prion proteins to invade their nervous systems. 

Overall the main cause of Kuru is cannibalism of the infected tissue. CJD is also caused by the prion proteins and is very rare. CJD has three variants: Sporadic is when the cause of CJD is unknown, Acquired CJD (variant vCJD) is related to mad cow disease and is caused by eating infected cow meat, and Familial CJD is when you inherit the prion protein from a family member. 

Symptoms of the Kuru disease are:

• Tremors
• Unsteady/difficulty walking
• Loss of coordination skills
• Muscle jerks
• Body aches
• Extreme memory loss
• Difficulty eating leading to malnutrition
• Headaches
• Slurred speech

There is no cure for Kuru, unfortunately the reality is people who have it will inevitably die within six to 12 months of symptoms. The incubation period can last as long as 50 years, this is how long the Fore has stopped their funeral rituals. In 2009 the epidemic was announced to be over and there has been no known case of Kuru since. The best way to avoid these types of diseases is to not eat any infected animals or humans, and remember these types of diseases are extremely rare so it is very unlikely you will ever come in contact with it or know someone with this kind of disease.