Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery

Film

Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery

8.0201052mDocumentary
Director
Rob Bygott
Year
2010

Australian scientist Michael Alpers dedicated over 50 years to researching Kuru, an obscure and incurable brain disease unique to the Fore people of New Guinea. Kuru was once thought to be a psychosomatic illness, an infection, a genetic disorder, even a sorcerer's curse, but Alpers' findings pointed to cannibalism as the culprit. Yet a recent discovery has proven to be even more disturbing: the malady is linked to mad cow disease and its human equivalent, variant CJD. With a decades-long incubation period, could a larger outbreak be on its way?

Top cast

Directed by

Rob Bygott

Written by

Rob Bygott

Produced by

Peter Du Cane