Vacuolated neurones in sheep affected with scrapie

Kuru Disease: Bridging the Gap Between Prion Biology and Human Health

This article explores the intriguing case of Kuru disease, a rare and fatal prion disease that once afflicted the Fore people of Papua New Guinea. Scientists are still perplexed as to the origins of Kuru because efforts to discover infectious agents like viruses have been ineffective. Initial research revealed similarities between Kuru and scrapie, a neurological disorder that affects sheep, suggesting potential similarities between the two diseases. In further research, experiments in which chimpanzee brain tissue from Kuru patients was implanted led to the development of Kuru-like symptoms in the animals, suggesting a transmissible component to the condition. Furthermore, data collected from epidemiological studies highlights a drop in Kuru transmission, especially after the Fore people stopped engaging in cannibalism, and the disease showed different incubation times that affected persons within particular age groups. Neuropathological tests in the infected brain tissue have found typical intracellular vacuoles, spongiform alterations, and amyloid plaques. According to studies, Kuru susceptibility has been linked genetically to particular PRNP gene variations. Kuru and other prion disorders have few effective treatments currently, underlining the vital need for early identification. Scientists have created sensitive detection techniques to stop the spread of prion diseases and looked into possible inhibitors. Hypochlorous acid, in particular, has shown potential in cleaning processes. Besides making great progress in understanding Kuru, there are still many unresolved issues surrounding its causes, transmission, and management. The terms "kuru disease," "human prion disease," "transmissible spongiform encephalopathies," and "Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome" were used to search the studies; papers unrelated to the review article were removed. Eighty-four articles are included in the review text to fully understand the complexities of this puzzling disease and its consequences for prion biology and human health; additional study is essential.

Kuru, the First Human Prion Disease

Kuru, the first human prion disease was transmitted to chimpanzees by D. Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008). In this review, we summarize the history of this seminal discovery, its anthropological background, epidemiology, clinical picture, neuropathology, and molecular genetics. We provide descriptions of electron microscopy and confocal microscopy of kuru amyloid plaques retrieved from a paraffin-embedded block of an old kuru case, named Kupenota. 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.

Kuru: a journey back in time from papua new Guinea to the neanderthals' extinction

Kuru, the first human transmissible spongiform encephalopathy was transmitted to chimpanzees by D. Carleton Gajdusek (1923-2008). In this review, I briefly summarize the history of this seminal discovery along its epidemiology, clinical picture, neuropathology and molecular genetics. The discovery of kuru opened new windows into the realms of human medicine and was instrumental in the later transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker 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.

Human prion diseases: from Kuru to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases are the names given to the group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that includes kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS), fatal and sporadic familial insomnia and the novel prion disease variable protease-sensitive prionopathy (PSPr) in humans. Kuru was restricted to natives of the Foré linguistic group in Papua New Guinea and spread by ritualistic endocannibalism. CJD appears as sporadic, familial (genetic or hereditary) and infectious (iatrogenic) forms. Variant CJD is a zoonotic CJD type and of major public health importance, which resulted from transmission from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) through ingestion of contaminated meat products. GSS is a slowly progressive hereditary autosomal dominant disease and the first human TSE in which a mutation in a gene encoding for prion protein (PrP) was discovered. The rarest human prion disease is fatal insomnia, which may occur, in genetic and sporadic form. More recently a novel prion disease variable protease-sensitive prionopathy (PSPr) was described in humans.TSEs are caused by a still incompletely defined infectious agent known as a "prion" which is widely regarded to be an aggregate of a misfolded isoform (PrP(Sc)) of a normal cellular glycoprotein (PrP(c)). The conversion mechanism of PrP(c) into PrP(Sc) is still not certain.