Papers on kuru disease in New Guinea
- AU PMB MS 1271
- Collection
- 1956-2001
Kuru was a rapidly progressive and fatal neurological disease which was found to occur with high frequency among the Fore people in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. Their tribal area, of several hundred square miles, is in a remote and rugged part of the Highlands which only became accessible to Europeans in the early 1950s. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people lived in the area affected and, of these, about one per cent were afflicted with the disease at any one time. The earliest reference to kuru is in an article by Berndt (1954) who made an anthropological expedition to the area at about the time that it was opened in 1952. The first detailed study was made by V. Zigas, the Administration Medical Officer at Kainantu, and in this work he was later joined by D.C. Gajdusek who, with S. Baruch, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discoveries in 1976.
Kuru file Nos. 1-37, including Dr Gunther’s official correspondence file on kuru, census returns from South Fore, development and research files on the Okapa area; Professor Nelson’s research files, including correspondence and notes on talks with John Gunther, Shirley Lindenbaum, Jeffries, Margaret Saville, Michael Alpers, T. Aitchison, and others; some unpublished papers and press cuttings. Professor Nelson also collected a large body of published scientific reports on kuru which have been listed, but not microfilmed due to copyright regulations. See Finding aids for details.
Nelson, Hank