<P> Kuru is a very rare, incurable neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea . Kuru is caused by the transmission of abnormally folded prion proteins, which leads to symptoms such as tremors, loss of coordination, and neurodegeneration . </P> <P> The term kuru derives from the Fore word kuria or guria ("to shake"), due to the body tremors that are a classic symptom of the disease and kúru itself means "trembling". It is also known as the "laughing sickness" due to the pathologic bursts of laughter which are a symptom of the disease . It is now widely accepted that kuru was transmitted among members of the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea via funerary cannibalism . Deceased family members were traditionally cooked and eaten, which was thought to help free the spirit of the dead . Women and children usually consumed the brain, the organ in which infectious prions were most concentrated, thus allowing for transmission of kuru . The disease was therefore more prevalent among women and children . </P> <P> The epidemic likely started when a villager developed sporadic Creutzfeldt--Jakob disease and died . When the women ate the brain, they caught the disease, and it was then spread to the villagers that ate hers . </P>

What explanation was provided as to why the fore where dying from kuru