| Definitions | | kuru |
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noun
- A chronic, progressive, fatal central nervous system prion disease of humans probably resembling the scrapie agent of sheep, and transmissable to nonhuman primates; usually seen only in the Fore and neighboring peoples of New Guinea. Believed to be transmitted by ritual cannibalism; it was first characterized by Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, for which he received the Nobel prize.
Etymology: Fore (language of Papua New Guinea), "shaking death".
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