The limbs become stiff, and muscles jerk called myoclonus Myoclonus Myoclonus refers to quick, lightning-like jerks contractions of a muscle or a group of muscles. Myoclonus may occur normally for example, jerking of a leg when a person is falling asleep Emotions may switch suddenly from sadness to happiness with sudden outbursts of laughter. People with kuru become demented and eventually placid, unable to speak, and unresponsive to their surroundings.
Most people with kuru die within 24 months after symptoms appear, usually as a result of pneumonia Overview of Pneumonia Pneumonia is an infection of the small air sacs of the lungs alveoli and the tissues around them.
Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Often, pneumonia is the final Pressure sores often result from pressure combined with pulling on the skin, friction, From developing new therapies that treat and prevent disease to helping people in need, we are committed to improving health and well-being around the world.
The Merck Manual was first published in as a service to the community. Learn more about our commitment to Global Medical Knowledge. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. Common Health Topics. Commonly searched drugs. The main risk factor for kuru is eating human brain tissue, which can contain the infectious particles.
Difficulty swallowing and being unable to feed oneself can lead to malnutrition or starvation. The average incubation period is 10 to 13 years, but incubation period of 50 years or even longer have also been reported.
See your health care provider if you have any walking, swallowing, or coordination problems. Kuru is extremely rare. Your provider will rule out other nervous system diseases. Prions and prion disease of the central nervous system transmissible neurodegenerative diseases. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Prion diseases. Kuru belongs to a class of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies TSEs , also called prion diseases.
It primarily affects the cerebellum — the part of your brain responsible for coordination and balance. Unlike most infections or infectious agents, kuru is not caused by a bacteria, virus, or fungus.
Infectious, abnormal proteins known as prions cause kuru. Prions are not living organisms and do not reproduce. They are inanimate, misshapen proteins that multiply in the brain and form clumps, hindering normal brain processes.
These spongiform diseases, as well as kuru, create sponge-like holes in your brain and are fatal. You can contract the disease by eating an infected brain or coming into contact with open wounds or sores of someone infected with it. Kuru developed primarily in the Fore people of New Guinea when they ate the brains of dead relatives during funeral rites. Women and children were mainly infected because they were the primary participants in these rites. The New Guinea government has discouraged the practice of cannibalism.
Your doctor will perform a neurological exam to diagnose kuru. This is a comprehensive medical exam including:. Tests such as electroencephalogram EEG are used to examine the electrical activity in your brain. Brain scans such as an MRI may be performed, but they may not be helpful in making a definitive diagnosis. There is no known successful treatment for kuru.
Brains contaminated with prions remain infectious even when preserved in formaldehyde for years. People with kuru require assistance to stand and move and eventually lose the ability to swallow and eat because of symptoms.
As there is no cure for it, people infected with it may lapse into a coma within six to 12 months after experiencing initial symptoms. Kuru is exceptionally rare.
Governments and societies sought to prevent the disease in the midth century by discouraging the social practice of cannibalism. The incubation period of kuru — the time between initial infection and the appearance of symptoms — can be as long as 30 years. Cases have been reported long after the practice of cannibalism has ceased.
Today, kuru is rarely diagnosed. Symptoms similar to those of kuru more likely indicate another serious neurological disorder or spongiform disease.
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