Kuru disease, a rare disease that is deadly because it eats the human brain

If all this time you may be used to eating beef brain curry in Padang restaurants, have you ever been curious to taste what the human brain tastes like? To know the answer, you can just ask the Fore tribe people in Papua New Guinea.

Previous generations of Fore Tribe had a tradition of eating the bodies of people who had just died at their funeral ceremonies. This tradition of cannibalism is carried out as a form of respect for the deceased during his lifetime. Men eat the meat of the deceased, while women, the elderly, and children share their brains.

Nowadays, the tradition of eating human brains is no longer practiced by them because there is a sad history behind it. Of the 11 thousand total inhabitants of the Fore tribe, more than 200 people died during the 1950s and 1960s as a result of Kuru's disease after eating human brains.

What is kuru disease?

Kuru disease is a rare, deadly disease that attacks the nervous system and is progressive, aka it continues to develop over time.

Kuru's disease is included in the disease group transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) which attacks the cerebellum, the part of the brain responsible for coordination and balance. The TSE disease class also includes mad cow disease.

The name "kuru" itself comes from the local language Fore which means "to die shaking" or "to die of shivering".

What causes Kuru's disease?

Unlike most other infections, Kuru's disease is not caused by foreign bacteria, viruses, or parasites. The reason is a strange protein molecule called prions that is naturally present in the human brain. That's why this disease is also often called prion disease.

Although prions are naturally produced in all mammalian brains, these proteins can transform themselves and coagulate when the brain is no longer functioning.

When you eat a human carcass brain, the prions that enter your body will act like a virus that attacks healthy tissue. Prions will attack you, the new host, by making a sponge-like hole in your brain. Often times this causes disruption of body coordination and deadly damage.

What are the symptoms of Kuru's disease?

The symptoms of Kuru's disease can look similar to those of a more common nervous system disorder, such as Parkinson's disease or a stroke.

Initial symptoms include difficulty walking, loss of control and coordination of limbs, involuntary jerking movements (such as seizures or twitches), insomnia, confusion, severe headaches, and memory problems. You will gradually lose control of your emotions and behavior, leading to signs of psychosis, depression and personality changes. This disease can also cause malnutrition.

Other symptoms include:

• Difficulty swallowing
• Slurred speech or less clear.
• Mood changes easily.
• Dementia.
• Muscle twitching and tremors.
• Cannot reach objects.

Kuru disease occurs in three stages which are usually preceded by headaches and joint pain. Gradually, the sufferer will lose control of his own body. It will be difficult for him to balance and maintain posture. Complaints of the body shaking, tremors, seizures or twitching, to unpredictable spontaneous movements begin to appear in the second stage.

In the third stage, people with kuru will usually be bedridden and wet the bed. He will lose the ability to speak. She may also exhibit dementia or a change in behavior that causes her to ignore her health.

Hunger and malnutrition usually occur in the third stage due to difficulty eating and swallowing. Within a year, you can no longer get up from the floor, eat alone, or control all body functions. This disease usually leads to death for several months to several years. Most people end up dying of pneumonia (a lung infection).

Is there a treatment for Kuru's disease?

There is no known successful treatment for kuru disease. Prions are not easy to destroy. Brains contaminated with prions remain infectious even when preserved in formaldehyde for years.

The main way to prevent this disease is to stop the practice of cannibalism. Nonetheless, new cases of Kuru have continued to emerge for years even after this cannibalistic custom was discontinued more than 50 years ago.

This is because prions can take decades to incubate in a new host body until they become visible. Medical records record that the time between exposure to first prion infection and the appearance of symptoms can be up to 30 years. Medical records report that the last person to die from Kuru died in 2009, but it wasn't until the end of 2012 that this terrible epidemic was officially declared extinct.