From IAN SIMMONS
Regarding Martin Harris’s comments on the transmission of Kuru among
the people of the New Guinea Highlands (Letters, 11 May) I was under the
impression, from discussions with colleagues when I worked at Ipswich Museum
and from a later television programme, that this too was a doubtful case
of cannibalism.
From what I recall, these New Guineans disinter their dead after a period
and clean the remaining decaying flesh from the bones, emptying the remains
of the skull contents at the same time, but do not actually eat any of this.
The transmission of Kuru occurs by infected brain tissue getting into cuts
on the hands, or by fragments remaining on the hands being ingested accidentally
while later eating a (non-cannibalistic) meal. Like most other cases, there
is no first hand evidence of New Guinean cannibalism.
Ian Simmons Leicester
