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Not to be confused with Koro (disease).
Kuru
Specialty Neuropathology, infectious disease
Symptoms Body tremors, random outbursts of laughter, emotional degradation, gradual loss of coordination
Complications Infection and pneumonia during the terminal stage.
Usual onset Approximately 10-50 years after initial exposure.
Duration 11โ14 month life expectancy after onset of symptoms[1]
Causes Transmission of infected prion proteins
Risk factors Cannibalism
Diagnostic method Autopsy
Differential diagnosis CreutzfeldtโJakob disease
Prevention Avoiding practices of cannibalism
Treatment Supportive care
Prognosis Fatal
Frequency Rare
Deaths Approximately 2,700 as of 2005
Kuru is a rare, incurable, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea. Kuru is a form of prion disease which leads to tremors and loss of coordination from neurodegeneration. The term kรบru means โtremblingโ and comes from the Fore word kuria or guria ("to shake").[2][3] It is also known as the "laughing sickness" due to the pathologic bursts of laughter which are a symptom of the infection.
It is now widely accepted that kuru was transmitted among the Fore people via funerary cannibalism. Deceased family members were traditionally cooked and eaten, which was thought to help free the spirit of the dead.[4] Women and children usually consumed the brain, the ***** in which infectious prions were most concentrated, thus allowing for transmission of kuru. The disease was therefore more prevalent among women and children.