From MARTIN HARRIS
After the fuss about ‘Mad Cow Disease’ it is surprising that Paul Bahn
does not mention Kuru and ritual cannibalism in the New Guinea highlands.
Kuru or ‘Laughing Death’ is an endemic and invariably fatal condition
which has been convincingly linked to the tribal custom in certain areas
of eating the brain tissue of dead relatives. This is said to be done to
gain magically the powers of the deceased but it also has the effect of
transferring the infective agent in a manner similar to the transmission
of Spongiform Encephalitis to cows from the ingested tissue of scrapie-affected
sheep.
Martin Harris Melbourne Australia
