Doktor Bilong Kuru

In 1957, European discovery of an unknown, fatal disease known locally as “kuru,” afflicting the remote Fore people of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea prompted an influx of European medical investigators into the region. The early years of the inquiry were fraught as rival teams of investigators jostled for control over the research. In an attempt to resolve the friction, in 1963 the Australian Administrators of New Guinea appointed New Zealand neurologist, Richard Hornabrook, Chief Cli...