5 Facts you should know about

Kuru

Kuru belongs to a class of infectious diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also known as prion diseases

Kuru is a rare and fatal brain disorder that occurred at epidemic levels during the 1950s-1960s among the Fore people in the highlands of New Guinea

The disease was the result of the practice of ritualistic cannibalism among the Fore, in which relatives prepared and consumed the tissues (including the brain) of deceased family members

Brain tissue from individuals with Kuru was highly infectious, and the disease was transmitted either through eating or by contact with open sores or wounds

Government discouragement of the practice of cannibalism led to a continuing decline in the disease, which has now mostly disappeared

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