4. The Fore people of Papua New Guinea engaged in ritual endocannibalism, the consumption of the dead, leading to the epidemic outbreak of the fatal neurological disease “kuru”
The Fore people are the indigenous inhabitants of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Among their noted cultural distinctions, the Fore engage in ritual cannibalism of the dead, a practice which has resulted in the widespread dissemination of the neurological disease “Kuru”: a rare, orally transmitted, incurable, and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by “prions” – misfolded proteins especially prevalent in the brain. Not only a cultural expression of love and grief for the departed, but the consumption of deceased family members was also believed by the Fore to recycle the power and knowledge of the individual into the living. Divided up by the women of the tribe, the flesh of the deceased was carefully apportioned and paired with vegetables. Women and children were most commonly afforded the brains of the dead, whilst men typically consumed muscle in the belief it would augment their own strength.
Consequently, the rates of contraction were significantly higher among women, who suffered from kuru at rates in excess of eight times that of men, precipitating a gender crisis within the tribe during the 1960s due to the high mortality rate of women. During the 1950s the mortality rate among the approximately 12,000 Fore people reached crisis level, 35 people per 1,000, and the male to female ratio reached 3:1. In response, the Australian government outlawed the practice and an international medical enterprise was activated to educate and assist the indigenous people. Today, kuru, although in decline, continues to afflict the native population of Papua New Guinea.