Kuru

Abstract

The past epidemic of kuru is the prototypical iatrogenic human transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. The neuropathology and biochemistry reflect a type 2/3 scrapie prion protein sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob phenotype with an emphasis on the spongiform encephalopathy, gliosis, neuronal loss and prion protein deposition being present in the cerebellum, putamen, thalamus and caudate nucleus. These findings, in conjunction with clinical and epidemiological findings, support human-to-human transmission of a prion strain from an initial case of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease during the process of cannibalistic feasting in the Fore linguistic group in New Guinea. More recent retrospective stud..