The end of kuru: 50 years of research into an extraordinary disease

Links:

royalsocietypublishing.org/" target="_self">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Professor John Collinge

A special issue of the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B' charting the history of research into Kuru is now freely available.

The issue is compiled by Professors John Collinge (UCL Neurodegenerative Disease & MRC Prion Unit) and Professor Michael Alpers (Curtin University of Technology).

"The epidemic of kuru is coming to an end, which allows its full scope to be examined in detail from the time the disease was first investigated in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1957. Kuru is a unique phenomenon in human medicine. Finding a solution to the puzzle it presented required a combination of biomedical, epidemiological and anthropological information. New research in all these disciplines continues to shed light on kuru and its relevance to other diseases."

To read the the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B' or to learn more about Professor Collinge, please use the links at the top of the article.