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The people of New Guinea have long tried to shed the cannibal label. While there have been documented cases of cannibalism among tribes on the island, the use of the stereotype has as much to do with European ideas on race and civilisation.
Kuru was found only among the Fore people and their immediate neighbours in the Okapa District of the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG.
For decades, a rare disease crawled across Papua New Guinea. When scientists realized what was behind kuru, it caught everyone by surprise. But similar diseases can still be transmitted through food.