User:Slickwik/sandbox

History

It is not known when exactly kuru first emerged in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea but accounts given by natives place kuru in the region as early as 1910. In 1936, a European named Ted Ubank was one of many gold miners in the region at the time and had witnessed kuru while prospecting for gold. Kuru was first described in official reports by Australian officers patrolling the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea in the early 1950s. In 1951, it was Arthur Carey who first used the term ‘kuru’ in his report to describe a new disease afflicting the Fore tribes of Papua New Guinea. In his report, Carey noted that kuru mostly afflicted Fore women, eventually killing them. He stated in his report that officials should visit the region to give medical diagnoses and provide treatment. In 1953, kuru was observed by patrol officer John McArthur who provided a description of the disease in his report. McArthur believed that kuru was merely a psychological episode resulting from confirmed sorcery practices of the tribal people in the region.