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dc.contributor.authorAlpers, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-30T14:46:01Z
dc.date.available2017-01-30T14:46:01Z
dc.date.created2008-11-12T23:24:57Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.identifier.citationAlpers, Michael. 2005. The epidemiology of kuru in the period 1987 to 1995. Communicable Diseases Intelligence. 29 (4): 391-399.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40840
dc.description.abstract

In the 9-year period 1987 to 1995 there were 66 deaths from kuru, 17 males and 49 females. The number of deaths per year ranged from 3 to 12. All deaths occurred south of a line drawn through the centre of the kuru region perpendicular to the axis of social change. The mean age at death was 49 years, with a gradual increase in this age with time. The last patient aged in their 20s died in 1987 and the last in their 30s died in 1991. The period shows a waning epidemic, with dramatically fewer deaths than in the early years of epidemiological surveillance 30 years before. Nevertheless, the clinical features and duration of the disease were unchanged. Transmission of kuru stopped by 1960 and patients seen in the period 1987-1995 showed long incubation periods, which in 1995 would have been at least 35 years. The proportion of males was much higher than in the early years; because males were effectively exposed only in childhood their incubation periods were in many cases likely to be over 50 years. The work of the Kuru Surveillance Team in maintaining a rigorous surveillance of kuru epidemiology over this period is described.

dc.publisherCommonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
dc.relation.urihttp://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/cda-cdi2904-pdf-cnt.htm/$FILE/cdi2904i.pdf
dc.relation.urihttp://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/cda-cdi2904i.htm
dc.subjectPapua New Guinea
dc.subjecttransmissible spongiform encephalopathies
dc.subjectprion diseases
dc.subjectepidemiology
dc.subjectfield surveillance methodology
dc.subjectkuru
dc.titleThe epidemiology of kuru in the period 1987 to 1995
dc.typeJournal Article
dcterms.source.volume29
dcterms.source.number4
dcterms.source.startPage391
dcterms.source.endPage399
dcterms.source.titleCommunicable Diseases Intelligence
curtin.departmentHealth Sciences-Divisional Office
curtin.identifierEPR-784
curtin.accessStatusFulltext not available
curtin.facultyDivision of Health Sciences


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