Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fatal degenerative disease of the brain caused by a prion, formerly found among certain peoples of New Guinea and transmitted by the consumption of human flesh during mortuary rites.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
chronic ,progressive ,fatal central nervous system disease found mainly among theFore and neighboring peoples ofNew Guinea , caused by aprion that probably resembles thescrapie agent of sheep, transmissible to nonhuman primates, and believed to be transmitted by ritualcannibalism .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a progressive disease of the central nervous system marked by increasing lack of coordination and advancing to paralysis and death within a year of the appearance of symptoms; thought to have been transmitted by cannibalistic consumption of diseased brain tissue since the disease virtually disappeared when cannibalism was abandoned
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“In New Guinea, they had a disease called kuru, transmitted by eating the brains of their enemies.”
State of fear Crichton, Michael, 1942- 2004
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But even more gruesome, cannibals in New Guinea in the 1950s started dying of kuru, which is caused by eating contaminated human brain tissue.
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In the middle of the 20th century, the Fore tribe of the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea was devastated by a mad cow-like disease called kuru, passed on by mortuary feasts in which the brains of the dead were consumed.
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A community in Papua New Guinea that suffered a major epidemic of a CJD-like fatal brain disease called kuru has developed strong genetic resistance to the disease, according to new research by scientists in the UK.
We Blog A Lot 2009
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In the middle of the 20th century, the Fore tribe of the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea was devastated by a CJD-like disease called kuru, which was passed on by mortuary feasts in which the brains of the dead were consumed.
Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2009
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Even though they cooked the bodies before eating them, they still contracted a mysterious fatal illness called "kuru," akin to mad-cow disease.
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It was found that many of them suffered from a disease called "kuru", which they had contracted from eating human tissue.
unknown title 2009
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It was found that many of them suffered from a disease called "kuru", which they had contracted from eating human tissue.
unknown title 2009
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It was found that many of them suffered from a disease called "kuru", which they had contracted from eating human tissue.
unknown title 2009
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It was found that many of them suffered from a disease called "kuru", which they had contracted from eating human tissue.
unknown title 2009
herotuesday commented on the word kuru
Mad-human disease!
September 25, 2007
sionnach commented on the word kuru
It turns out that snacking on the brains of your dead ancestors might not be such a great idea.
January 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word kuru
A more recent example of a similar disease.
September 11, 2008
bilby commented on the word kuru
A Cook Islands term for breadfruit. Recipe ideas here.
January 28, 2009
sionnach commented on the word kuru
Are the prions mushed in with the "breadfruit"? And does this mean we should be talking about breadfruit spongiform encephalopathy?
January 28, 2009
bilby commented on the word kuru
BSE!!! *runs*
But you have to love the home URL of that site, the most compact I have ever come across: www.ck
January 28, 2009