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Geography

A map showing the area and different "linguistic groups" of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, including prevalence of Kuru.

Kuru is found within a very specific region of Papua New Guinea known as the Eastern Highlands Province. The majority of this region remained unexplored until the early 1930s, when an Australian explorer first came into contact with the indigenous peoples of the highlands, most notably the Fore. It wasn't until the 1950s, however, that the Kuru disease was discovered by a group of researchers and found to be indigenous to the region, with apparent minimal spreading. The disease was found to be (generally) centered around the Okapa district, home to the Fore people.

Despite being associated with the Fore, evidence suggests that the disease was first noted in a single individual (who is believed to have "spontaneously developed some form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease") in the Uwami village of Keiagana, and the disease soon spread to the Awande village in the North Fore. It wasn't for another decade or so, however, that the disease reached the South Fore, initially infecting several villages but then spreading throughout the countryside; researchers noted that Kuru had "become hyperendemic in the South Fore".

Although Kuru was particularly devastating amongst the Fore people, surrounding groups were affected as well, but to lesser degrees. However, geographic factors played a large role in separating groups, and (therefore) in preventing intermarriage and the spread of the disease. For example, the Iagaria (Yagaria on maps), Kamano, and Auiana (Auyana) peoples did not intermarry with the Fore, partially due to geographic distance from the affected group, but also due to a number of geographic barriers - the Kratke Mountains to the north, the Yani River to the west and the Lamari River to the southeast all contributed to varying degrees of geographic isolation, with the latter playing a particularly important role in keeping the Anga (Kukukuku) people completely Kuru free.

The general consensus has been that Kuru is specific to the Eastern Highlands region of New Guinea and has not been noted anywhere else in the world; however, this has been challenged by Walid Theodore Shoebat, a former radical (Muslim Brotherhood) Syrian citizen who has in recent years become a notable figure for his spreading of knowledge and peace amidst the violent, volatile region of Syria. The discovery began when two TIME magazine reporters obtained a video showing an insurgent ingesting both the heart and lung of another man slain in battle. Because Kuru is generated through cannibalism, it comes as no surprise that Shoebat (claims to have) discovered as many as 20 citizens of the conflict-ridden region as having developed Kuru in 2013.

Scientists and researchers still hotly debate how widespread/contained Kuru is and will be in the future, but one study has suggested that because Kuru and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases have a potentially long incubation period (suggested up to 50 years), humans could, hypothetically, face an onslaught of prion diseases in the future, all over the world.