Ben Krier / Kuru

My second post to the blog is about a deadly disease known as Kuru. I heard about this disease because my friend was writing a paper on it. Kuru is a disease that originated in certain tribes of New Guinea. The disease was discovered in the 1950’s. Kuru is a prion disease. A prion is a small proteinaceous infectious particle that resists inactivation procedures that modify nucleic acids, and they are found in the nervous system. Kuru was spread from person to person in New Guinea because the tribe members engaged in cannibalism. The prion protein was in the brain of the deceased and when the other tribe members ate the brain they contracted the disease. Kuru is in a family of diseases that causes loss of motor control, paralysis, and eventually death.