CULTURAL PRACTICES

AND DISEASES

By Connie Kutch

KURU

Located in Papua New

Guinea
(South Fore)

1900S WAS WHEN THE

DISEASE WAS NOTICED
History

Fatal within 6-12 months

Men had several wives to care for family
Disease is culture specific
Mostly affects women ages 20-30
Men were angry when the women were dying because the had to do
the work

Originally thought to have been a curse from a witch

This caused extreme cleanliness so

the witch wouldnt acquire
something from the family to use for
curse
1950s researchers thought it was a genetic disease

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS

Prion- causes the spread
Neurological disease

oThree stages
Ambulant Stage
Unsteadiness voice, hands, eyes, and gait
Deterioration of speech
Tremors or shivering

Sedentary Stage
Cant walk without support
Ataxia
Uncontrolled laughter
Mental slowing depression
Muscle tremors

Terminal Stage
Cant sit up by oneself
Incontinence
dysphagia

PRION

Virulent and unable to kill

MORTUARY CANNIBALISM
This South Fore practiced mortuary
cannibalism heavily prior to 1960. It
then became illegal. The South Fore
women were mostly affected
because the men thought they were
too good to eat the dead (left overs).
It later began affecting children and
the elderly. This became a concern
because if this continued there
would be no continuation of the
culture with no women and children.
The disease prions were mostly
concentrated in the blood and brain
tissue

1996-2004
11 people were diagnosed with Kuru
They were all born before cannibalism was outlawed
That makes the incubation period 34-41 years
The long incubation period makes it hard to eradicate this disease

Creative Bio Mart. (2015). Retrieved from Google Images:

www.creativebiomart.net
O'Neil. (2010, October 7). Medical Anthropology. Retrieved from Cultural
Specific Diseases:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/medical/med_4.htm