Case Study – Kuru
Case Study – Kuru
In 1960 the British government that controlled Papua New Guinea enacted substantial behavioral changes among the native highlanders of the island. At the time a unique disease, kuru, that had no known etiology or cure was endemic in the population of people known as the Fore. The disease disproportionately affected women and children. Scientists looked variously at genetics, infections, and behavior to seek answers to why the Fore, and only the people of this group, had this debilitating and always fatal disease.
Review the video on Kuru, the Prion video, and the article by Collinge et al. Analyze a minimum of three aspects of Kuru you find most interesting. How does the Kuru affect modern world health? What are the implications of this disease to us? Do you think it was worth spending a large amount of time and money to seek out the cause of a disease that affected so few humans on the earth? Why or why not?
- Your posting should be a minimum of 300 words (450 graduate students); excludes references; be sure to add references at the bottom of your initial posting.
- Reply to at least two colleagues in the class; three for full credit.
- Replies should be a minimum of 150 words each.
- (Required) Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw_tClcS6To (Links to an external site.)
- (Required) Collinge, J., Whitfield, J., McKintosh, E., Beck, J., Mead, S., Thomas, D. J., & Alpers, M. P. (2006). Kuru in the 21st century—an acquired human prion disease with very long incubation periods. The Lancet, 367(9528), 2068-2074. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Mead/publication/6986896_Kuru_in_the_21st_century-An_acquired_human_prion_disease_with_very_long_incubation_periods/links/00b4951af99a87c5f0000000.pdf (Links to an external site.)
(Required) What is a prion?
Prions – Incurable Brain Dissolving Proteins (Links to an external site.)
