What Is Kuru A Deadly First Human Prion Misfolded Proteinsdisease

What is Kuru? A Deadly First Human Prion (misfolded proteins)Disease. Kuru is an incurable and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea. Kuru, the first human prion disease was transmitted to chimpanzees by D. Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008). The discovery of kuru opened new vistas of human medicine and was pivotal in the subsequent transmission of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, as well as the relevance that bovine spongiform encephalopathy had for transmission to humans. The transmission of kuru was one of the greatest contributions to biomedical sciences of the 20th century. An attempt is made here to summarize the history of this seminal discovery, epidemiology, clinical picture, neuropathology, investigations, management, complications, prognosis and the descriptions of electron microscopy and confocal microscopy of kuru amyloid plaques along with several illustrations for better understanding of a quaint but interesting entity. …Dr. H. K. Saboowala. M.B.(Bom) .M.R.S.H.(London).