Kuru: Laughing Disease With Bizarre Epidemic Roots In Endocannibalism

 By Emeka Chiaghanam

                      
Kuru, an unusual epidemic with its origins shrouded in the practice of endocannibalism, has left an indelible mark on the Fore nation in the interior of Papua New Guinea. While estimated to have surfaced in the 1920s, it was only in the early 1950s that Australian explorers documented this peculiar disease, which manifested almost exclusively among the Fore people.

Referred to as the "laughing disease," Kuru presents common symptoms including tremors, loss of motor coordination, and, in its advanced stage, uncontrollable fits of laughter. With a progressive nature that unfolds over approximately two years, the prognosis for Kuru is fatal in nearly 100% of cases. The outbreaks of this disease have a direct link to the religious practice of endocannibalism, where members of the Fore nation consume organs and tissues of their deceased family or clan members, believing it accelerates the liberation of souls from their bodies.

Notably, the majority of Kuru victims were women and children. This trend emerged due to the preference for men to receive limbs and muscles in anthropophagic rituals, leaving women and children to consume internal organs, particularly brain matter.

Modern understanding attributes Kuru to prions—an infectious agent comprised of malformed proteins, concentrated primarily in the central nervous system. The prevalence of endogamy in small, isolated communities may have contributed to the disease's transmission, akin to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

During the late 1950s, Kuru claimed the lives of approximately 270 people each year within the small Fore ethnic group. However, due in part to the efforts of public health workers and missionaries, the disease experienced a precipitous decline, culminating in no reported deaths since 2010. Debates persist regarding the last victim's demise, occurring in either 2005 or 2009. Despite this apparent success, Kuru cannot be deemed eradicated, given the prion's extended incubation period, lasting up to two decades.

Among the scarce survivors of Kuru, a pattern of immunity was observed, prevalent in the global population but absent among the Fore who abstained from traditional rituals. This intriguing revelation strongly suggests that endocannibalism was a practice among our ancestors as well, adding a layer of complexity to the fading legacy of Kuru.



 

 

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