– the word for shivering – as people lost control of their limbs and bodily functions before a tremor set in preceding death.
Because the body was broken up and eaten in a ritualistic way according to spiritual beliefs, with certain tissues going to certain kin, women and children were worst affected by the disease – because they were apportioned the brain and spinal cord where prions are concentrated. The new genetic analysis found no evidence either for less overall migration into areas where kuru was most severe, or a stop to the practice of patrilocality, where a bride moves to live closer to her husband’s family.
Field staff from the affected and neighbouring populations were recruited by the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research to collect genetic samples through long-term community participation, which were then analysed by researchers in London and Copenhagen.
Dr Irene Gallago Romero, a human genomics and evolution researcher at St Vincent’s Institute for Medical Research said the question of whether the migration of women was drastic enough to change the genetic makeup of traditionally insular communities was left unanswered.