KURU

Kuru (Mad Human Disease) is a PrP (prion) related disease (see Fatal Familial Insomnia) that causes neurological effects such as truncal ataxia, headaches and uncontrolled tremors ultimately leading to death. Kuru is transmissible between humans via the consumption of an infected person's flesh. The brain meat, in particular, is highly infectious because the prions exist there in a higher concentration.

Kuru was endemic to the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. Fore tribe members practiced ritual canibalism as part of burial ceremonies. The men of the tribes ate the best cuts of meat while the women and children were left to consume the organs and brain. It is thought that this difference in consumption practices caused the increased prevalance of Kuru seen in the women and children of the Fore tribe.

Scientists conjecture that the outbreak of Kuru which plagued the Fore tribe began when they consumed someone who had been suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a similar prion-based illness.)

In Kuru, death occurs within 18 months of the onset of symptoms. However, like its cousins Mad Cow Disease and FFI, the disease can be latent for up to 40 years from the time of contraction.

Because this sick is fatal and is passed through canibalism, I give this sick a
7 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 7 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)