• Corpus ID: 5884480

Cannibalism, kuru and anthropology.

@article{Lindenbaum2009CannibalismKA,
  title={Cannibalism, kuru and anthropology.},
  author={Shirley Lindenbaum},
  journal={Folia neuropathologica},
  year={2009},
  volume={47 2},
  pages={
          138-44
        }
}
This essay discusses the image and practice of cannibalism in a wide range of studies. It also presents the anthropological research on kuru which led to the proposal that cannibalism had enabled transmission of the infectious agent, as well as doubts about the hypothesis, and the assertion by some that cannibalism as a socially approved custom did not exist. The figure of the cannibal as an icon of primitivism took form in the encounter between Europe and the Americas. Cannibalism was to… 
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21 Citations
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21 Citations

Discovery of Kuru Revisited: How Anthropology Hindered Then Enhanced Kuru Research

The chronological sequence of the earliest reports of kuru is reviewed and it is documents how early reliance on sorcery as the mechanism for the illness diverted attention from a medical description and discovery of the mode of transmission of the disease.

Cannibalism amongst penitentiary escapees from Sarah Island in nineteenth century Van Diemen’s Land

Alexander Pearce was an Irish convict incarcerated on Sarah Island on the west coast of Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 and again in November 1823, and was only able to survive the harsh conditions by killing and consuming his fellow escapees.

Kuru: A Journey Back in Time from Papua New Guinea to the Neanderthals’ Extinction

The discovery of kuru opened new windows into the realms of human medicine and was instrumental in the later transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease as well as the relevance that bovine spongiform encephalopathy had for transmission to humans.

Recent kuru-induced female gene flow disrupted the coevolution of genes and languages in the Papua New Guinea highlands.

The genetic structure among the Highland populations was shaped by both geography and language, and language is a good predictor of mtDNA affinity in the PNG Highlands, and coevolutionary pattern among genes, languages, and geography is disrupted.

Kuru, the First Human Prion Disease †

The discovery of kuru opened new vistas of human medicine and was pivotal in the subsequent transmission of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, as well as the relevance that bovine spongiform encephalopathy had for transmission to humans.

Human prion diseases: surgical lessons learned from iatrogenic prion transmission.

The authors outline the historical discoveries that led from kuru to the identification and isolation of the pathological prion proteins in addition to providing a brief description of human prion diseases and iatrogenic forms of CJD, a brief history of prion disease nosocomial transmission, and a summary of the CDC and WHO guidelines for prevention of prions disease transmission and decontamination ofPrion-contaminated neurosurgical instruments.

How will prion disease evolve

It is clear that expression of PrPC in the central nervous system (CNS) is required for the neurotoxicity of PrPSC as prnp null mice do not develop neurodegeneration, and studying the pathogenesis of prion disease may provide novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of more common neuro degenerative diseases.

Kuru, the first prion disease: a travel back in time from Papua New Guinea to Neanderthals extinction

This paper aims to provide a mechanistic basis for the post-mortem examination of the central nervous system of Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (CJD) and aims to determine the cause of death and timing of his death.

Prions: a model of conformational disease?

Human prion diseases: from Kuru to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases are the names given to the group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that includes kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD),…

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