Kuru

Definitions

1. A chronic, progressive, fatal central nervous system disease found mainly among the Fore and neighboring peoples of New Guinea, caused by a prion that probably resembles the scrapie agent of sheep, transmissible to nonhuman primates, and believed to be transmitted by ritual cannibalism.
   uncountable
2. an ancient kingdom, mentioned in the Mahabharata.
   Hinduism, historical

Equivalents

Examples

“By the late 1950s, kuru was the leading cause of death among Fore women, and it had killed so many that men outnumbered women by three to one.”

CEFR level