Lessons of kuru research: background to recent studies with some personal reflections

摘要

The widespread exposure of the UK population to bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions, andrnthe potential consequences for public health, led to a renewed interest in kuru, the principal examplernof epidemic human prion disease. Kuru research in Papua New Guinea was expanded to study thernrange of incubation periods possible in human prion infection, to investigate maternal and otherrnpossible natural routes of transmission, to characterize genetic susceptibility and resistance factorsrnand to gain insights into the peripheral pathogenesis of orally acquired prion disease in humans.rnAlthough now essentially over, the kuru epidemic continues to provide important lessons.