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Definition of "kuru" []

  • A fatal progressive, degenerative neurological disease caused by a slow-acting virus, found in certain peoples of New Guinea and transmitted by cannibalism. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "kuru" in a sentence
  • "“In New Guinea, they had a disease called kuru, transmitted by eating the brains of their enemies.”"
  • "But even more gruesome, cannibals in New Guinea in the 1950s started dying of kuru, which is caused by eating contaminated human brain tissue."
  • "In the middle of the 20th century, the Fore tribe of the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea was devastated by a CJD-like disease called kuru, which was passed on by mortuary feasts in which the brains of the dead were consumed."