New Guinean Cannibals Evolved Resistance To Mad Cow-Like Disease

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By Andrew Moseman
Nov 20, 2009 2:24 AMJun 29, 2023 2:25 PM

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Members of a tribe in Papua New Guinea has evolved resistance to a affliction similar to mad cow disease (called Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, or CJD, in people). How did they do it? Cannibalism, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Papua New Guinea variant is called kuru, and it was a disaster there.

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