The Symptoms of Kuru

Kuru, a neurodegenerative disorder, was first discovered in New Guinea in the early 1900’s.  It is also known as Laughing Death, Laughing Sickness and Cannibalism disease.  Kuru occurs in three stages and death occurs within six to twelve months after the onset of symptoms.

The first stage is the Ambulant stage.  During this stage coordination deteriorates, develops an unsteady gait, shaking, shivering, slurred speech, twitching eyes and loss of coordination begins in the feet and slowly moves up the legs and arms. The symptoms of the Ambulant stage may not occur for years or even decades.

The second stage is the Sedentary stage.  The symptoms of this stage are an inability to walk without support, loss of muscle coordination and severe muscle jerking.

The third stage is the Terminal stage.  The symptoms of this stage are an inability to sit up without support, fecal and urinary incontinence, difficulty swallowing, coma and eventually death.

Kuru is a progressive neurological disorder that is found primarily in the Fore natives who live in the New Guinea highlands. It’s referred to as the laughing death or laughing sickness because pathological bursts of laughter occur during the first stage.  It’s also called Cannibalism disease because it was believed to be caused by rituals that involved eating the flesh of dead people.  This was later dismissed because the entire population participated in these rituals, but Kuru was confined to one tiny region.

Kuru is classified under rubric transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, also known as prion diseases. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has similar symptoms.