Open AccessThe Incubation Period of Kuru
Author(s) -
Jerome N. Huillard d'Aignaux,
Simon Cousens,
Jean Maccario,
Dominique Costagliola,
Michael P. Alpers,
P. G. Smith,
Annick Alpérovitch
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.901
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1531-5487
pISSN - 1044-3983
DOI - 10.1097/00001648-200207000-00007
Subject(s) - kuru , incubation period , period (music) , incubation , biology , medicine , philosophy , scrapie , pathology , prion protein , biochemistry , disease , aesthetics
Kuru is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that was identified in Papua New Guinea in the late 1950s. Several thousand cases of the disease occurred during a period of several decades. Epidemiologic investigations implicated ritual endocannibalistic funeral feasts as the likely route through which the infectious agent was spread.