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Kuru
Definition
Kuru is a disease of the nervous system.
Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors
Kuru is an extremely rare disease. It is caused by an infectious protein (prion) found in contaminated human brain tissue. Kuru is found almost exclusively among people from New Guinea, who practiced a form of cannibalism in which the brains of dead people were eaten as part of a funeral ritual.
Kuru causes neurodegenerative changes similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Similar diseases appear in cows as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also called mad cow disease. The main risk factor for kuru is eating human brain tissue, which can contain the infectious particles.
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Review Date : 12/3/2008
Reviewed By : David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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