Kuru Disease

Developing an Understanding of Kuru As New Guinea became westernized by the exploration of Australian colonial powers, it was soon discovered among the native tribes there existed cannibalism, as well as sorcery, and a disease linked by the two, a disease and magic named Kuru. When it was first discovered, it was first assumed merely to be a mental issue, which produced a physical ailment in suffering the psychological issue. Though, as doctors realized it was an actual disease, it became difficult to determine the origin of the disease and difficult to determine how the disease progressed. Some of the difficulties developed from the competition between the two investigating teams. However, most of the issues developed from the disease not …show more content…
With more tests on the environment of the Fore people, both teams of investigators were able to" rule out infectious and toxicological explanations of Kuru"(Anderson 119). It seemed to appear to the doctors and investigators that for the Kuru disease that "hereditary transmission appeared most likely" (Anderson 119). Though with more research, and observation, it could be seen the disease did not necessarily follow lineage, though some aspects of the hereditary explanation did make sense. Eventually, the teams discovered they could infect different animals and study them. And with the observation of different diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which also did not have a known bacteria or virus. The theory of a slow virus developed to describe an "infectious cause for a genetic disease" (Anderson 139). The theory progressed and eventually led to Gajdusek winning the 1976 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology. As research continued, it became viewed that there in fact was no slow virus. A new theory began developing regarding it being caused by a protein structure, known as a Prion. The theory of Prions developed around the environment of the late 1980's "'mad cow' epidemic"(Anderson 200), a bovine transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which helped scientists discover Prions. It became understood in time, that both the mad cow …show more content…
At first, Kuru was only seen as a psychological issue, which manifested itself physically in the bodies of those in tune with spirituality. Then it became apparent there indeed was a physical ailment. And, while it took a long period of time, filled with unnecessary completion, a theory of a slow virus was accepted. Ultimately, the theory was later rejected and succeeded by new idea of Prions. But, it is the progress of science, and the field of medicine, down the a long and windy path, with still much farther to go, which one can see presented in this case stud. For, we as a society are working to better understand disease, even when there are incorrect theories, unreasonable competition, and then more incorrect