Linked Life Data

7114816

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/7114816

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1982-10-29
pubmed:abstractText
The clinical characteristics of kuru in 15 patients are described. All the patients had a history of joint pains preceding difficulty walking. The severity of the neurological dysfunction varied from mild truncal and limb ataxia necessitating the use of a stick for walking to terminal illness accompanied by marked ataxia, rigidity, spasticity, and dementia. All the patients with kuru in this study had a apprehensive, frightened facial expression. Most of the patients examined showed diminished or absent optokinetic nystagmus bilaterally. Apprehensive facies and diminished optokinetic nystagmus have not previously been described in kuru. The other clinical features of the current patients with kuru are similar to those recorded twenty years ago. Epidemiological surveillance, anamnesis, and missionary reports strongly suggest that all the patients described in this study were exposed to the kuru agent more than two decades ago through ritualistic cannibalism. Thus the incubation period or time interval from exposure to the onset of clinical illness exceeds two decades, while the duration of illness is two years or less. The cause of these extraordinarily long incubation periods is unknown but may result in part from exposure to small doses of the kuru agent through an inefficient oral route.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
0364-5134
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
12
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1982
pubmed:articleTitle
Kuru with incubation periods exceeding two decades.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Case Reports