I am presently doing second year micro, and Kuru is a favourite of one of my
lecturers. CJ disease and Kuru are both prion diseases and cause
demyelination in the brain. Death is longand slow. The dementia could be
explained by the prions attacking the CNS.
Kuru is also called the "laughing death". I don't know why because there is
absolutely nothing funny about the way you die.
There is a possible link between CJ disease and Kuru. What they think may
have happened(this is just one of probably hundreds of theories) is that a
tribe that practiced cannabilism actually ate someone who had CJ disease eg a
visiting missionary. The tribespeople(being unsexist) who ate the individual
with CJ disease then developed Kuru. So therefore it is entirely possible
that Kuru is a mutation of CJ disease. Kuru has a long incubation period and
was originally discovered in the 1920s
They think that Kuru is nearly completely wiped out , due to the act of
cannabilism becoming(hopefully) a thing of the past. Have you heard of scrapie
in sheep? This is basically CJ disease in sheep. It is a prion disease as
well.
I'm not sure if this was ever proven, but there was a case not long ago of a
person who they think contracted CJ disease from an organ transplant.
Transmission of CJ is still pretty much of a mystery.
Sorry if I've rabbled on a bit here. I'm not sure how much of this you know.
or how much of it will even be helpful, I just think it is really interesting.
