[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.02,0:00:03.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[intro music]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.03,0:00:08.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Australian scientist Professor\NMichael Alpers has dedicated over 50 years
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.94,0:00:14.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,researching kuru, an incurable brain\Ndisease unique to Papua New Guinea.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.35,0:00:19.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.79,0:00:24.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Kuru was a new disease that was\Nkilling lots of people and was a complete
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.16,0:00:25.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mystery.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.36,0:00:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] But this obscure disease, found\Ndeep within these jungles, holds the key
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.84,0:00:35.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to unlocking vital information for\Nunderstanding two of the word's most
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.76,0:00:42.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,frightening diseases, mad cow disease and\Nits human form variant CJD.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.71,0:00:47.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[man] Quite clearly now the outbreak of\Nvariant CJD is very closely entwined
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.80,0:00:52.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with kuru. And now we're looking at the\Ntip of the first iceberg in Europe.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.06,0:00:55.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we're learning from out here is there\Nis much more to come.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.96,0:00:59.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] It's a medical detective story\Nthat unearths cannibalism...
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.46,0:01:14.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] ...and a world of sorcery....
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.14,0:01:27.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] ...and one\Nthat is far from over.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.26,0:01:32.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] And who could believe that 50 or\Nmore years after kuru
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.21,0:01:35.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,investigations started, we'd still be\Nlooking for cases?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.46,0:01:42.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[haunting music]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.21,0:01:46.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[wind blowing]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.33,0:01:55.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[upbeat music]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.57,0:02:00.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] It was in Adelaide in 1957 when\NMichael Alpers, then a young medical
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.41,0:02:03.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,student, first heard about kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.66,0:02:07.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I read about kuru in the {\i1}Adelaide\NAdvertiser{\i0}, and they called it the
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.91,0:02:12.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"laughing death." But reading into the\Narticle a bit more indicated that this was
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.94,0:02:17.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an important neurological disease. Instead\Nof going to two o'clock lectures...
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.33,0:02:18.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.88,0:02:24.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,...I'd go to the library, and I had all\Nthese notes that I made and I'd write down
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.38,0:02:29.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I was doing and little summaries and\Nso forth. So I was really quite
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.44,0:02:32.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,obsessed by this.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.18,0:02:34.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[haunting music]
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.03,0:02:40.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] When Michael was at medical\Nschool in the 1950s, Papua New Guinea
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.25,0:02:43.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was an Australian territory and patrol\Nofficers had only recently ventured into
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.60,0:02:45.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its uncharted regions.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.31,0:02:48.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[indistinct chatter]
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.100,0:02:53.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] There, they encountered a\Ntotally alien world of Stone Age cultures,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.21,0:02:58.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cannibalism, sorcery, and tribal\Nconflict.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.05,0:03:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[haunting music]
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.03,0:03:14.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Reports started to emerge of a\Nmysterious brain disorder affecting only
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.54,0:03:19.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Fore people of the Eastern Highlands.\NIts victims described as trembling,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.61,0:03:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,laughing, and falling over.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.23,0:03:27.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughter]
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.56,0:03:34.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The first reports about kuru in\Nthe general literature came from
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.87,0:03:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anthropologists describing kuru as a\Npsychosomatic disease, some kind of
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.26,0:03:45.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reaction to the change in the world with\Nthe advent of the
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.26,0:03:48.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Australian administration.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.30,0:03:53.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[thunder]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.74,0:04:21.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Tragically, kuru seemed to be\Nconcentrated among the women and
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.04,0:04:22.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the children.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.95,0:04:27.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[baby crying]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.03,0:04:56.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] There were 200 dying every year\Nthroughout the whole kuru region.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.01,0:05:01.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it was a little hard to believe that\Nthe young children were getting this
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.22,0:05:06.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,psychosomatic disease and they were all\Ndying from it. It didn't seem to make
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.14,0:05:07.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,any sense at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.26,0:05:09.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.32,0:05:13.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] But what was even more puzzling\Nwas that kuru was only affecting the Fore
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.27,0:05:20.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people, at the time only 20,000 of the\Ntotal population of 1.7 million on the
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.37,0:05:24.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whole island of New Guinea.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.10,0:05:28.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] It was confined to this very\Nremote area. Why? We don't know.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.07,0:05:31.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An infection would have come to mind\Nfirst. There was a possibility that it
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.81,0:05:36.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was genetic, but you know there was so\Nmany other possibilities.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.99,0:05:42.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1961, Michael seized the opportunity to\Nbecome the first Australian medical
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.92,0:05:46.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,officer to be sent into the kuru region.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.93,0:05:52.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] When it was discovered that I was\Ngoing to work on kuru, all my teachers
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.04,0:05:56.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,said, you know, "Why waste your time doing\Nthat?" And this was serious. It wasn't in
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.44,0:06:00.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anybody's mindset as the proper career\Npath for a doctor.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.98,0:06:05.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.41,0:06:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Three years after first hearing\Nabout kuru, Michael abandoned a
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.00,0:06:14.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,conventional career in medicine and\Narrived instead with his young family
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.65,0:06:18.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at a colonial outpost in the north Fore\Narea.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.87,0:06:21.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.72,0:06:27.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The general expectation before I\Nleft was that I was going to a wild and
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.91,0:06:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dangerous place and that the natives were\Ndangerous people.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.10,0:06:40.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[chanting and music]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.23,0:07:21.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.29,0:07:25.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] There was a real connection\Nwith the traditional past. It was
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.16,0:07:31.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something quite different from anything\NI've experienced before and I found it
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.29,0:07:32.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exotic.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.76,0:07:38.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael decided to leave the\Nsecurity of the colonial outpost to
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.72,0:07:43.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,live in Waisa, the small village at the\Nvery center of the epidemic.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.58,0:07:49.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I wanted to work in a community,\Nfollow patients from beginning to end of
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.21,0:07:57.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their clinical course. And I wanted to\Nphotograph them. Kuru was just something
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.23,0:08:01.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I knew about from reading and it was\Nsomething in my head, but I had no
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.13,0:08:02.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experience of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.18,0:08:07.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael began to track the full\Neffects of the disease, filming and
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.49,0:08:12.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,observing patients from the first symptoms\Nof kuru with headaches and pains through
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.78,0:08:18.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to their final agonizing stages, trapped\Ninside their bodies, barely able to move
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.27,0:08:20.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or communicate.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.94,0:08:25.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We didn't know whether it\Nwas going to continue to expand.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.38,0:08:31.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The whole community might come down\Nwith kuru. I mean, it was unknown for me.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.65,0:08:36.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And unknown for the people experiencing\Nthis.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:01.34,0:09:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were a lot of diseases that\Nwere killing people. People accepted the
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.60,0:09:10.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fact that children were more likely to die\Nperhaps than to live. It was the general
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.01,0:09:14.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tenor of life in a traditional community,\Nbut there was the additional fear about
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.38,0:09:18.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kuru, and in particular about kuru's \Nsorcery.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.14,0:09:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Sorcerers were feared members\Nof Papua New Guinea's society.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.65,0:09:32.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sorcery is the local explanation for\Nthe cause of kuru, a belief that remains
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.42,0:09:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even today.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.44,0:10:17.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To try and understand more\Nabout sorcery and the Fore, Michael
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.26,0:10:22.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,turned to anthropologist Shirley\NLindenbaum, working in a nearby village.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.57,0:10:26.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Lindenbaum] People talked about sorcery\Nall the time. Any outsiders who walked
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.72,0:10:30.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through the village were watched in case\Nthey picked up little particles of
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.64,0:10:35.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,peoples' food or hair clippings. So\Nsorcery was an obsession.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.73,0:10:40.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] To the people of Papua\NNew Guinea, sorcery is likened to a
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.66,0:10:45.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,form of murder, and justice was commonly\Nsought through revenge killings.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.83,0:10:51.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These were the second highest cause of\Ndeath after kuru amongst the Fore.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.100,0:11:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] This was a shifting boundary\Nbetween friends and enemies.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.02,0:11:29.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And why would anyone be so evil as to\Nkill members of your family?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.06,0:11:32.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your daughter, your wife.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.37,0:11:37.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was a tragedy in this community.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.97,0:11:44.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael knew that he was\Ndealing with a totally new type of
Dialogue: 0,0:11:44.21,0:11:49.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease, and after three months in the\Nfield, he was no closer to solving
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.25,0:11:56.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the puzzle that was kuru. Then he met\NAmerican virologist Carleton Gajdusek,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.25,0:12:01.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only other medical researcher\Ndedicated to trying to understand this
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.54,0:12:04.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,strange disease.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.47,0:12:07.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Didn't take very long to realize\Nthat we were both on the same
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.99,0:12:11.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wavelength in terms of an attitude to\Nthe world and where we thought what
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.44,0:12:15.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were doing would fit in. And I had\Ngreat respect for Carleton because of all
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.26,0:12:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the work that he'd already done.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.11,0:12:21.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] It was Carleton's early\Npioneering work that had identified
Dialogue: 0,0:12:21.56,0:12:27.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kuru as affecting only the Fore, but more\Nimportantly, he had also established that
Dialogue: 0,0:12:27.76,0:12:30.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was a totally new disease of the brain.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.62,0:12:34.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Kuru is a new disease, and that\Ndoesn't happen very often. And Carleton
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.38,0:12:37.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,recognized that this was extremely\Nimportant and this was something that
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.22,0:12:41.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had to be investigated. It was an\Nopportunity to learn. And it might
Dialogue: 0,0:12:41.60,0:12:45.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,provide information not only that would\Nhelp the people that were dying of the
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.30,0:12:49.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease, but to give us understanding\Nabout neurological diseases in general.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:49.09,0:12:51.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, he understood that right from the\Nbeginning.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.84,0:12:56.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Carleton had done every\Nmedical test known to science,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.79,0:13:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in particular investigating the prime\Nsuspect: cannibalism.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:01.82,0:13:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] Everybody's been thinking\Ncannibalism. Everybody I met from before
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.62,0:13:11.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saw kuru. But we found that that\Ncouldn't be the case. We had no
Dialogue: 0,0:13:11.81,0:13:17.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,information. All the medical reasons for\Nnot—and we threw it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.64,0:13:22.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Cannibalism had to be\Ndismissed when every one of Carleton's
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.31,0:13:27.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tests on animals demonstrated that kuru\Nwas neither infectious nor transmissible.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:28.09,0:13:32.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] We inoculated everything\Nfrom snakes to bears, and we had
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.96,0:13:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,watched them for one, two, three, four,\Nsix months. Zero.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:41.71,0:13:46.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was something new. I didn't know\Nanything about what it was. But it was
Dialogue: 0,0:13:46.40,0:13:48.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,certainly new.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:49.29,0:13:50.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:13:50.88,0:13:54.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] For the two kuru researchers,\Nthere was still no explanation for the
Dialogue: 0,0:13:54.93,0:14:01.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cause of this strange disease and how it\Nwas spreading. Kuru remained a
Dialogue: 0,0:14:01.26,0:14:03.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,complete and utter mystery.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:07.32,0:14:11.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] By the time Kuru investigators\NMichael Alpers and Carleton Gajdusek
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.63,0:14:17.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,joined forces in 1962, every avenue of\Nhuman medical research had been
Dialogue: 0,0:14:17.38,0:14:22.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exhausted. But the brain disease killing\Nthe Fore people was still a
Dialogue: 0,0:14:22.26,0:14:28.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,complete mystery. So Michael and Carleton\Nhad to explore other possibilities.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.85,0:14:33.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We were forced to look beyond\Nhuman disease, and then we were given
Dialogue: 0,0:14:33.78,0:14:39.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a vital clue from veterinary sources. It\Nwas a neurodegenerative disease of
Dialogue: 0,0:14:39.98,0:14:45.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sheep that had been known for 200 years\Nor more. The French called it the
Dialogue: 0,0:14:45.12,0:14:48.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"trembling disease," and the English,\N"scrapie."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:48.98,0:14:55.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Few medical scientists had\Neven heard of scrapie, as no human brain
Dialogue: 0,0:14:55.20,0:14:59.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease had ever been linked to an\Nanimal disease before.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:59.25,0:15:04.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But for Michael and Carleton, the evidence\Nwas compelling.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:07.38,0:15:11.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The similarity of these two\Ndiseases was uncanny. And the most
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.77,0:15:17.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,striking thing, when you look at them\Nunder the microscope, were the holes
Dialogue: 0,0:15:17.38,0:15:25.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the brain cells, and this spongy-like\Neffect with thousands of tiny holes
Dialogue: 0,0:15:25.12,0:15:27.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout the brain.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:27.44,0:15:31.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] But what was of more interest\Nwas that scrapie had been proven by
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.33,0:15:36.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,veterinarians to be transmissible,\Nwith unheard-of incubation periods.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.94,0:15:43.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] It was transmissible from sheep\Nto sheep, but the incubation period on
Dialogue: 0,0:15:43.48,0:15:49.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these transmission experiments was\Nmeasured in years. And that was
Dialogue: 0,0:15:49.12,0:15:55.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,extraordinary—never been described in\Nany infectious disease before.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.41,0:16:03.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this was significant, and of course the\Nimplication of this was that kuru itself
Dialogue: 0,0:16:03.21,0:16:05.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might be infectious, it might be\Ntransmissible.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.67,0:16:09.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] No human disease had ever\Ntaken more than a few weeks for
Dialogue: 0,0:16:09.68,0:16:13.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,infection to surface. And more\Nsignificantly, no degenerative brain
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.71,0:16:18.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease had ever been shown to be\Ntransmissible between humans.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:18.66,0:16:22.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] And if we were able to show that\Nkuru was transmissible, this would open
Dialogue: 0,0:16:22.58,0:16:26.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,up a new field in human medicine. There\Nwas no question about that. People would
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.35,0:16:28.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have to take notice.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:28.30,0:16:31.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] But first, Michael and Carleton\Nhad to embark on something no
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.72,0:16:35.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scientist had ever attempted.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.52,0:16:39.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] This meant that we had to do\Ntransmission experiments with the
Dialogue: 0,0:16:39.67,0:16:43.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,expectation of incredibly long\Nincubation periods.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:45.17,0:16:49.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] So they planned an experiment\Nthat could take up to ten years.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:49.78,0:16:54.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] Irrespective of anything else,\None had to test whether this disease,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.02,0:16:57.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kuru, was transmissible to primates.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.62,0:17:01.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] And there was only one way\Nthey felt they could do this: by using
Dialogue: 0,0:17:01.24,0:17:07.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,chimpanzees, the closest primates to\Nhumans. The plan: to inject them with
Dialogue: 0,0:17:08.16,0:17:11.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brain tissue taken from a kuru victim\Nstraight after death.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:14.74,0:17:18.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We were going to go beyond what\Nanybody might have expected.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:19.95,0:17:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We were going into an unknown. But it\Nwas clear that that's what had to be done.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.44,0:17:31.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael then set about finding\Na suitable patient for the autopsy.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:32.25,0:17:37.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[eerie sounds]
Dialogue: 0,0:17:37.41,0:17:41.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I knew Kigea as a young girl in\Nthe village. The rumor was that she had
Dialogue: 0,0:17:41.85,0:17:46.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kuru, so I went to see her. And she\Nwould've been a little bit unsteady on
Dialogue: 0,0:17:46.32,0:17:54.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her feet. In this context, here, where kuru\Nis the dominant disease, you know what
Dialogue: 0,0:17:54.63,0:18:03.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the outcome is. Even an 11-year-old will\Nknow that she's got this disease and
Dialogue: 0,0:18:03.48,0:18:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she's gonna die.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:07.14,0:18:11.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael meets with Kigea's\Nfamily to seek permission to perform
Dialogue: 0,0:18:11.76,0:18:13.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the autopsy.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:26.59,0:18:30.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] They used to cut up the bodies\Nall the time, and everyone was familiar
Dialogue: 0,0:18:30.45,0:18:35.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the parts of the body. So it wasn't\Na mystery to do an autopsy. But
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.51,0:18:39.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,obviously, for me to do it was another\Nmatter.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:40.90,0:18:45.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The family agrees, and over the\Nnext six months, Michael observes and
Dialogue: 0,0:18:45.94,0:18:51.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,records the deterioration of Kigea as\Nkuru begins to take its course.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:52.61,0:18:58.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] She couldn't talk, but she\Ncouldn't indicated whether she was feeling
Dialogue: 0,0:18:58.05,0:19:02.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,okay or whatever. I mean, in this locked-in\Nstate, as it was, and knowing she would
Dialogue: 0,0:19:02.57,0:19:09.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,die—very, very awful situation to be in.\NAnd to watch, to be part of it—it was
Dialogue: 0,0:19:09.83,0:19:11.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,emotionally very draining.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:26.25,0:19:32.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Tender love and care was very\Nimportant. Not only psychologically,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:32.25,0:19:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also physically. It was wonderful to\Ngo and see her, but also very distressing.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:39.71,0:19:46.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it was a—she was—she was a wonderful\Nyoung girl. I will never forget her.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:46.95,0:19:55.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[somber music]
Dialogue: 0,0:19:55.02,0:19:59.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] A call goes out from the small\Nhamlet: Kigea has finally died.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:01.43,0:20:04.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Within half an hour, Michael arrives at\Nthe house.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:05.32,0:20:09.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] There was grieving, shouting,\Nwailing. And all the wailing and the
Dialogue: 0,0:20:09.35,0:20:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,crying didn't help really the professional\Nactivity of doing a good autopsy.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:19.26,0:20:26.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I shut that out. I couldn't look at\NKigea's features. She was a head.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:27.89,0:20:31.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had to get the skull off. I had to get\Nthe brain out. And we had to go quickly.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:33.40,0:20:35.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we did that. There was no turning\Nback.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:08.48,0:21:14.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Then we gave everybody a hug\Nand we left with the samples.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:20.06,0:21:24.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael leaves the Fore for\NWashington, D.C., where Carleton has
Dialogue: 0,0:21:24.33,0:21:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,organized a facility for the transmission\Nexperiment.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:29.29,0:21:33.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:21:33.97,0:21:39.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here, the samples of kuru are injected\Ninto the brains of two chimpanzees,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:40.35,0:21:42.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Daisy and Georgette.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:43.39,0:21:48.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] For me. it was a real sense of\Nambivalence about the fact that we
Dialogue: 0,0:21:48.53,0:21:54.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had inoculated these animals. But from\Nour point of view, thinking about all
Dialogue: 0,0:21:54.83,0:21:59.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the suffering that had gone on with the\Nkuru patients, we had a firm
Dialogue: 0,0:21:59.85,0:22:06.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,responsibility to do this experiment and\Nto do it right, and to do that, from our
Dialogue: 0,0:22:06.33,0:22:10.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perspective, we had to have chimpanzees.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:12.14,0:22:16.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We couldn't assume a positive outcome,\Nbut the implications of positive
Dialogue: 0,0:22:16.37,0:22:19.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,transmission were immense.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:20.77,0:22:25.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] If the chimps contract kuru,\NMichael and Carleton will have
Dialogue: 0,0:22:25.32,0:22:28.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unearthed an entirely new category\Nof human disease. But even if the
Dialogue: 0,0:22:28.80,0:22:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experiment is successful, they will still\Nhave no idea why kuru was affecting
Dialogue: 0,0:22:33.68,0:22:40.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only the Fore people. So Michael now\Nfocused on epidemiological research,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.55,0:22:45.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking for clues about how kuru might\Nbe spreading, sifting through his field
Dialogue: 0,0:22:45.73,0:22:49.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,notes and crucially earlier annual\Ncensus records.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:50.07,0:22:53.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:22:53.09,0:22:56.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The reports that the patrol\Nofficers got on their census were pretty
Dialogue: 0,0:22:56.73,0:23:00.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,accurate, and they would collect\Ninformation on who had died and whether
Dialogue: 0,0:23:00.48,0:23:04.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they'd died of kuru and who had started\Nkuru since the last census.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:40.43,0:23:44.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] So they had information on the\Nmortality from kuru, the prevalence of
Dialogue: 0,0:23:44.20,0:23:48.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kuru, and incidence—the new cases\Nthat had risen since the last census.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.91,0:23:52.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And also of course they had the sex,\Nage, and name of these people.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:52.90,0:23:54.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:23:54.82,0:23:58.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] This proved to be crucial\Ninformation. For the first time, Michael
Dialogue: 0,0:23:58.56,0:24:02.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had collated seven years of records and\Nwas able to compare the data.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:04.53,0:24:07.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What he found was startling.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:07.66,0:24:12.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I remember coming into the lab\Nand then suddenly it sprung out at me—
Dialogue: 0,0:24:12.62,0:24:18.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"My goodness." This is a major change. The\Ndisease seemed to have disappeared in
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.53,0:24:21.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the very young patients.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:22.01,0:24:27.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] He had discovered that no child\Nborn after 1960 had come down with kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:28.87,0:24:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The question was, why?
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.95,0:24:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[singing]
Dialogue: 0,0:24:42.62,0:24:47.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] It was 1964 when Michael Alpers\Ngot his first real breakthrough in solving
Dialogue: 0,0:24:47.36,0:24:53.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the puzzle of kuru, with the discovery\Nthat no Fore child born after 1960 had
Dialogue: 0,0:24:53.95,0:24:56.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,developed the disease.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:56.65,0:25:00.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The implication of this change\Nwas that the mode of transmission
Dialogue: 0,0:25:00.73,0:25:05.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably had stopped, and those born\Nsince then were growing up free of the
Dialogue: 0,0:25:05.10,0:25:10.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease. Now, of all the changes that took\Nplace at this time, we had to try and
Dialogue: 0,0:25:10.72,0:25:15.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,determine which was the most significant\Nor the most relevant kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:17.66,0:25:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] New laws under the Australian\Nadministration saw the eradication of
Dialogue: 0,0:25:21.73,0:25:25.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,many social and cultural practices\Nthroughout the territory.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:26.89,0:25:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The people are being told that\Nthey had to stop fighting, they had to
Dialogue: 0,0:25:30.86,0:25:35.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,build roads, stop child marriage, and they\Nhad to plant coffee. And they did
Dialogue: 0,0:25:35.11,0:25:37.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all these things.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:37.95,0:25:43.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The Fore had been forced to\Nundergo many changes, but there was
Dialogue: 0,0:25:43.08,0:25:44.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one that stood out.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:10.10,0:26:13.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The Fore had stopped their\Nconsumption of human meat by
Dialogue: 0,0:26:13.59,0:26:18.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1959, so cannibalism—previously\Ndismissed because of Carleton's earlier
Dialogue: 0,0:26:18.52,0:26:22.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experiments—was now back as a suspect.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:22.65,0:26:27.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] If kuru was transmissible, then\Nthe most likely to be the transmitting
Dialogue: 0,0:26:27.49,0:26:34.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mode of kuru was the mortuary practice,\Nconsumption of the dead during the
Dialogue: 0,0:26:34.64,0:26:37.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mortuary feast.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:37.54,0:26:39.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[eerie music]
Dialogue: 0,0:26:39.68,0:26:43.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] These had been essentially\Nreligious practices, helping to free the
Dialogue: 0,0:26:43.42,0:26:48.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spirit of the dead. The mortuary\Npractices had been very important, had
Dialogue: 0,0:26:48.49,0:26:51.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,been universal, and had been stopped.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:53.08,0:26:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The mortuary feasts were\Npart of the Fore's customary
Dialogue: 0,0:26:56.92,0:27:00.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,funeral rites. And it was only the close\Nrelatives of the deceased that ate
Dialogue: 0,0:27:00.86,0:27:01.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the body.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:49.88,0:27:54.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The further Michael\Ninvestigated the Fore's mortuary
Dialogue: 0,0:27:54.78,0:27:58.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,practices, the clear it became to him why\Nkuru was affecting mostly the women
Dialogue: 0,0:27:58.94,0:27:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and children.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.73,0:28:07.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] That it was the women and\Nchildren who were the ones that consumed
Dialogue: 0,0:28:07.28,0:28:10.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the dead body and not the men.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:07.14,0:29:11.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The argument that cannibalism\Nwas the cause of the spread of kuru
Dialogue: 0,0:29:11.21,0:29:15.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was compelling, but proof would depend on\Nthe outcome of the transmission
Dialogue: 0,0:29:15.57,0:29:23.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experiment. As it happened, Michael\Nand Carleton didn't have to wait ten
Dialogue: 0,0:29:23.35,0:29:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,years for their answer. Two years after\Nbeing injected with infected brain tissue,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:29.40,0:29:32.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the chimpanzees developed kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:33.44,0:29:39.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Daisy was walking around, falling\Nover, looking just as if she was a kuru
Dialogue: 0,0:29:39.06,0:29:43.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,patient. And this bowled Carleton over.\NHe couldn't believe it. It was uncanny
Dialogue: 0,0:29:43.06,0:29:51.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how similar Daisy was. This was a defining\Nmoment. We knew that the transmission
Dialogue: 0,0:29:51.07,0:29:57.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of kuru to chimpanzees had been positive—\Nthat these animals did have kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:57.49,0:30:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The significance of this\Noutcome couldn't be overstated.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:01.85,0:30:06.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They had discovered a totally new type\Nof human disease. It was the first
Dialogue: 0,0:30:06.51,0:30:11.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,time a human degenerative brain disease\Nhad been shown to be transmissible.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:12.41,0:30:16.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what's more, it had the longest\Nincubation period of any human
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.63,0:30:21.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease known to science. Carleton's\Nearlier experiments simply hadn't been
Dialogue: 0,0:30:21.62,0:30:24.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,followed for long enough.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:24.78,0:30:32.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] This was the outcome of our\Nhopes and dreams, but somehow we
Dialogue: 0,0:30:32.31,0:30:35.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,never thought it would happen, and it\Nhad happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:37.36,0:30:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] In February 1966, Michael and\NCarleton's groundbreaking discovery
Dialogue: 0,0:30:42.62,0:30:45.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is published to the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:46.60,0:30:49.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:49.16,0:30:52.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I included the names of the\Nchimpanzees, and also the names of
Dialogue: 0,0:30:52.93,0:30:57.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who provided the inoculate. That would\Nbe considered very unusual today.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:58.03,0:31:01.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But for me, it was a mark of honor.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:05.59,0:31:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:31:06.62,0:31:10.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] With transmission established,\Nthere was now no doubt in Michael's mind
Dialogue: 0,0:31:10.49,0:31:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that cannibalism was the cause of the\Nspread of kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:14.28,0:31:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] It suddenly became very clear\Nthat we now had the fact of transmission.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:20.10,0:31:24.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We knew this was infectious. It wasn't\Nsimply a hypothesis. It was a fact.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:27.25,0:31:32.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's like the jigsaw puzzle. All the\Npieces fitted in, and it explained things
Dialogue: 0,0:31:32.40,0:31:36.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you hadn't expected it to explain.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:38.51,0:31:42.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Because it was only close\Nrelatives who consumed the dead kuru
Dialogue: 0,0:31:42.09,0:31:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,victims, this explained why the disease\Nnever spread beyond the Fore region.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:50.94,0:31:54.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what still remained a mystery for\NMichael was how kuru started
Dialogue: 0,0:31:54.65,0:32:01.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the first place. To help answer this\Nquestion, he looked once again to
Dialogue: 0,0:32:01.62,0:32:04.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anthropologist Shirley Lindenbaum.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:05.08,0:32:08.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Shirley] It was thought when we first\Nwent there that because they were not
Dialogue: 0,0:32:08.71,0:32:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,literate people, they didn't have\Nhistorical memory.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:13.22,0:32:17.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there are many ways of placing\Nthe particular moment in the history
Dialogue: 0,0:32:17.31,0:32:21.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Papua New Guinea. They can date\Nthings by the year they were married,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:21.28,0:32:26.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the year a child was born, in sort of\Nfive-year batches. So we did kind of a
Dialogue: 0,0:32:26.34,0:32:32.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,track getting history of first cases\Nstories and just followed it wherever
Dialogue: 0,0:32:32.17,0:32:37.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it took us. Sort of a historical\Nepidemiology. We just followed a path.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:37.33,0:32:42.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it took us to a point just outside\NFore territory in the [inaudible] area.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:43.57,0:32:47.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:47.69,0:32:52.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Shirley traced kuru back\Nto just one case around the beginning
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.15,0:32:53.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the 1900s.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:54.89,0:32:59.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if this single case was the origin\Nof the kuru epidemic, then how did it
Dialogue: 0,0:32:59.69,0:33:04.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,appear in the middle of New Guinea?\NSeemingly, from nowhere.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:08.05,0:33:12.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Where did it come from? We had\Nno idea and nobody could explain that.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:12.64,0:33:15.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were all kinds of attempts to\Nexplain it.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:17.14,0:33:22.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we postulated that it began\Nspontaneously in an individual.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:23.69,0:33:28.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The only suspect to fit this\Nprofile was a rare disease that occurred
Dialogue: 0,0:33:28.45,0:33:33.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout the world called\NCreutzfeldt–Jakob disease, or CJD.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.35,0:33:38.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for Michael, the symptoms appeared\Nall too familiar.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:40.60,0:33:46.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The characteristics of it were\Nso clearly like kuru, and we knew
Dialogue: 0,0:33:46.92,0:33:51.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease appeared\Nspontaneously in every human population
Dialogue: 0,0:33:51.87,0:33:58.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at about 1 per million per annum. But\Nit'd been completely ignored by
Dialogue: 0,0:33:58.28,0:34:00.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scientists—it was so rare.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:01.21,0:34:04.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:34:04.04,0:34:07.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] With only 20 cases ever\Nreported since its discovery 40 years
Dialogue: 0,0:34:07.44,0:34:12.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,earlier, the scientific community had\Nnever really paid much attention to the
Dialogue: 0,0:34:12.12,0:34:17.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease. But Michael and Carleton\Ndecided to go out on a limb, attempting
Dialogue: 0,0:34:17.90,0:34:22.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to see if this rare disease could also\Nbe transmissible.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:24.01,0:34:28.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We were on our own, very much.\NThere was really nobody else at
Dialogue: 0,0:34:28.17,0:34:34.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that stage who would even dream of\Ntrying to see if Creutzfeldt–Jakob
Dialogue: 0,0:34:34.84,0:34:37.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease was transmissible.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.96,0:34:43.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] So they repeated the kuru\Ntransmission experiment, this time with
Dialogue: 0,0:34:43.24,0:34:47.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,CJD. And after 18 months, to the\Nsurprise of the science community,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:47.68,0:34:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the chimpanzees contracted the\Ndisease.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:52.10,0:34:55.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for Michael, the conclusion was\Nnow obvious.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:56.74,0:35:00.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The two diseases, kuru and\NCreutzfeldt–Jakob disease, were of
Dialogue: 0,0:35:00.97,0:35:06.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same kind. The most logical\Nexplanation was that kuru began in
Dialogue: 0,0:35:06.20,0:35:12.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same way as Creutzfeldt–Jakob\Ndisease, and one individual came down
Dialogue: 0,0:35:12.73,0:35:19.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a spontaneous change in their\Nbrain and became, sadly, in that
Dialogue: 0,0:35:19.06,0:35:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,community, the origin of this terrible\Nand vast epidemic.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:24.73,0:35:27.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[somber music]
Dialogue: 0,0:35:28.37,0:35:34.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Transmission of Creutzfeldt–Jakob\Ndisease was a very exciting outcome,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:34.47,0:35:40.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because this clearly indicated that our\Nbelief that kuru would open up a new
Dialogue: 0,0:35:40.75,0:35:44.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,area of human medicine was justified.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:44.80,0:35:49.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael and Carleton had\Nnow linked three transmissible diseases.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:49.28,0:35:54.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their chain of discoveries were setting\Na new course for human medicine,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:54.84,0:35:59.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they now gained the recognition\Nfrom the world's scientific community.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:59.52,0:36:03.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] These are very exciting times.\NI mean intellectually, very exciting.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:03.40,0:36:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, we'd achieved a lot and it\Nwas clear that this probably meant a
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.42,0:36:09.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nobel Prize.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:10.92,0:36:15.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Shirley] They rewards are bigger for\Nmedicine than they are for anthropology.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:16.44,0:36:24.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was always the odor or the smell\Nor the promise of a Nobel Prize in kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:26.17,0:36:29.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] When Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease\Nwas transmitted, Carleton changed
Dialogue: 0,0:36:29.86,0:36:34.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,somewhat because I think he knew that\Nthere was a Nobel Prize. More and more
Dialogue: 0,0:36:34.76,0:36:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was spending time giving lectures,\Ngoing around making sure that everyone
Dialogue: 0,0:36:38.78,0:36:42.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,got the message about what had been\Nachieved.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:42.94,0:36:45.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:36:45.62,0:36:49.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] With his eye on a Nobel Prize,\NCarleton then concentrated on trying
Dialogue: 0,0:36:49.83,0:36:55.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to identify the culprit. The agent causing\Nthese diseases was unlike any virus
Dialogue: 0,0:36:55.87,0:36:59.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or bacteria known to science.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:59.12,0:37:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] They had very weird properties.\NAnd those properties continued to be
Dialogue: 0,0:37:02.96,0:37:05.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more and more weird as it was\Ninvestigated.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:06.36,0:37:12.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Carleton's team discovered that\Nthe particle causing the disease was
Dialogue: 0,0:37:12.48,0:37:16.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a thousand times smaller than any other\Nknown infecting agent, and found only
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.19,0:37:21.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the brain and spinal cord. But exactly\Nhow it caused the infection was still
Dialogue: 0,0:37:21.79,0:37:24.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a complete mystery.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:24.48,0:37:27.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] But I couldn't find an\Nantibody. We still can't. So everything
Dialogue: 0,0:37:27.98,0:37:32.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about it is unique. The rule is still\Ntoday that every infection on earth
Dialogue: 0,0:37:32.70,0:37:38.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,produces antibody. No exception on\Nearth. No AIDS patient on Earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:38.66,0:37:45.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Catch on? That's the important rule. So\NI called it an unconventional virus.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:45.54,0:37:53.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] And in 1976, Carleton finally\Nwon the Nobel Prize for his discovery
Dialogue: 0,0:37:53.24,0:37:57.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what he called an unconventional virus.\NBut he wasn't the only one hungry for
Dialogue: 0,0:37:57.78,0:37:58.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Nobel Prize.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:58.74,0:38:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Prusiner] I didn't think these particles\Nwere viruses, I didn't think they were
Dialogue: 0,0:38:02.52,0:38:05.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slow viruses, I didn't think they were\Nunconventional viruses. I thought they
Dialogue: 0,0:38:05.50,0:38:07.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were different.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:07.06,0:38:10.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] Bullshit. It's a virus.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:10.21,0:38:14.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] However, biochemist Stanley\NPrusiner disagreed and gave Carleton's
Dialogue: 0,0:38:14.79,0:38:22.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,virus a name, identifying it as a protein\Nparticle he called a prion—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:22.52,0:38:25.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,starting one of the most bitter rivalries\Nin science.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:25.96,0:38:30.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] Stan says, "It's not a virus.\NIt's a prion." That's not a discovery.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:30.48,0:38:32.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a word.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:32.62,0:38:37.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have to realize that this was the\Nfirst new pathogen in 100 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:37.24,0:38:44.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We knew about viruses and bacteria and\Nparasites and fungi for 100 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:44.82,0:38:56.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there was not a lot of—there was not\Na lot of, I should say, happiness
Dialogue: 0,0:38:56.95,0:39:01.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,associated with the introduction of\Nthis term on the part of a lot of
Dialogue: 0,0:39:01.57,0:39:05.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scientists. They were really quite\Nantagonistic.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:06.42,0:39:10.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Prusiner would have to wait\Nanother 20 years to win his Nobel Prize.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:11.07,0:39:14.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His findings turning the world of science\Nupside down.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:14.74,0:39:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:39:16.18,0:39:20.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Carleton] Prions cannot be classed as\Nliving organisms because they contain
Dialogue: 0,0:39:20.96,0:39:25.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no DNA or RNA, and therefore, how can\Nthey reproduce?
Dialogue: 0,0:39:28.62,0:39:32.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if they're not organisms, how can\Nthey cause disease?
Dialogue: 0,0:39:33.53,0:39:36.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[mysterious music]
Dialogue: 0,0:39:36.02,0:39:39.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Prions ignore the rules of\Nnormal biological reproduction.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:40.11,0:39:45.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They recruit rather than reproduce,\Ntargeting normal proteins and converting
Dialogue: 0,0:39:45.10,0:39:51.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them into replicates of themselves.\NThese in turn attack and convert more,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:51.40,0:39:56.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,building ever increasing numbers\Nthat kill cells in the brain.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:57.22,0:39:59.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:39:59.17,0:40:03.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Stanley] So now we had an entirely new\Ndisease paradigm that evolved out of
Dialogue: 0,0:40:03.56,0:40:06.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these basic studies and the discovery\Nof the prion protein.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:08.44,0:40:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Whilst two of the world's top\Nscientists squabbled over what to call
Dialogue: 0,0:40:12.15,0:40:17.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the infecting agent, Michael was back\Nin Papua New Guinea, where large
Dialogue: 0,0:40:17.38,0:40:21.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,numbers of Fore adults and adolescents\Nwere continuing to die,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:22.80,0:40:26.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even 15 years after they had stopped\Neating their dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:26.65,0:40:30.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] To other people, we're forgetting\Nabout kuru. Kuru is something that had
Dialogue: 0,0:40:30.49,0:40:34.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,done its work as it were and could be\Nforgotten about. But that wasn't true
Dialogue: 0,0:40:34.41,0:40:38.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for me. We had to continue with the\Nepidemiological surveillance to follow
Dialogue: 0,0:40:38.70,0:40:44.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the epidemic to find out in fact how long\Nit will go to establish the possible
Dialogue: 0,0:40:44.41,0:40:49.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,length of the incubation period in a\Nhuman prion disease.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:52.04,0:40:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The determined Australian\Ndecided to remain in Papua New Guinea
Dialogue: 0,0:40:55.76,0:41:01.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to record every case of the disease. But\Njust how long could these extraordinary
Dialogue: 0,0:41:01.50,0:41:07.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,incubation periods extend? And for how\Nmany years would Michael have to
Dialogue: 0,0:41:07.22,0:41:09.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,track the kuru epidemic?
Dialogue: 0,0:41:14.27,0:41:20.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] In 1984, 25 years after the\Ncessation of cannibalism, close to 30
Dialogue: 0,0:41:20.70,0:41:26.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,adults were still dying of kuru every\Nyear. Incubation periods were reaching
Dialogue: 0,0:41:26.69,0:41:31.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lengths way beyond what Michael had\Never imagined as possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:31.38,0:41:37.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] I had no idea how long the\Nepidemic would continue. In the literature,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:37.15,0:41:41.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's the statement that we have to\Ncontinue for another decade. And every
Dialogue: 0,0:41:42.76,0:41:45.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,decade we kept saying that.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:48.05,0:41:50.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[news reporter] Fear has quickly spread\Nthrough Europe...
Dialogue: 0,0:41:50.94,0:41:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] And then in 1985, a modern\Ncannibal practice hit headlines around
Dialogue: 0,0:41:55.40,0:41:57.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:57.49,0:42:01.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[news reporter] Shock waves through an\Nindustry worth some 54 million...
Dialogue: 0,0:42:01.25,0:42:07.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Then came BSE. Mad cow disease\Nwas clearly in the same group of
Dialogue: 0,0:42:07.80,0:42:13.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,diseases as kuru and Creutzfeldt–Jakob\Ndisease, scrapie.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:15.31,0:42:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course the analogy with kuru and\Nthe consumption of the dead was immediate,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:21.92,0:42:25.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of this practice of feeding\Ncalves meat and bone meal which derived
Dialogue: 0,0:42:25.60,0:42:27.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from brain material and spinal cord.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:29.39,0:42:33.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We know with kuru that they\Nare the infectious parts of the body.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:33.97,0:42:40.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the big question of course was, was\Nit transmissible to humans?
Dialogue: 0,0:42:41.76,0:42:45.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:42:45.69,0:42:49.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] And it was ten years after it\Nfirst surfaced in Britain that mad cow
Dialogue: 0,0:42:49.85,0:42:54.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disease was found to have crossed over\Nto the human population.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:54.73,0:43:02.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Called variant CJD, there have been over\N150 cases in the UK since 1995 from
Dialogue: 0,0:43:02.65,0:43:04.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,eating infected beef.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:05.36,0:43:09.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[John Collinge] A large majority of the UK\Npopulation has potentially been
Dialogue: 0,0:43:09.20,0:43:12.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exposed to BSE. We don't know what the\Ninfectious dose or the lethal dose
Dialogue: 0,0:43:13.12,0:43:16.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you need to be exposed to to\Ndevelop the disease is.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:18.03,0:43:22.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't know what lies ahead. We don't\Nknow how many people are actually
Dialogue: 0,0:43:22.02,0:43:24.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,silently harboring the infection.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:24.34,0:43:28.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Professor John Collinge\Nspearheads the research into variant CJD
Dialogue: 0,0:43:28.12,0:43:33.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the UK. One of the first people he\Ncontacted for help was Michael Alpers
Dialogue: 0,0:43:33.35,0:43:38.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Papua New Guinea, where, remarkably,\Nhe was still finding one or two kuru
Dialogue: 0,0:43:38.94,0:43:41.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cases every year.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:42.48,0:43:46.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The natural thing to do was to\Nturn to the only other known human
Dialogue: 0,0:43:46.83,0:43:50.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,epidemic of prion diseases, which was\Nkuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:59.54,0:44:03.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Collinge] Kuru has been an immense\Ninterest to everyone working in the prion
Dialogue: 0,0:44:03.30,0:44:07.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,field for many years. It's been almost\Nhistorical interest, particularly about
Dialogue: 0,0:44:07.54,0:44:12.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the range of incubation periods. We're\Nparticularly interested in what the
Dialogue: 0,0:44:12.04,0:44:14.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,upper limit of that might be.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:16.93,0:44:20.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] We have documentation on\Nevery case of kuru that's occurred.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:21.85,0:44:29.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's the full record of a disease. And\Nwe knew that in some cases, kuru could
Dialogue: 0,0:44:29.86,0:44:34.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have an incredibly long incubation period\Nof over 50 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:37.90,0:44:42.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael's work is now providing\Nthe foundations for predicting the
Dialogue: 0,0:44:42.25,0:44:47.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,outcome of variant CJD in the UK, but\Nthe fact that this was transmitted from
Dialogue: 0,0:44:47.09,0:44:51.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cows to humans means incubation periods\Ncould be even longer.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:53.11,0:44:58.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] When you've crossed a species\Nbarrier in transmission, you tended to
Dialogue: 0,0:44:58.16,0:45:04.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,double the incubation period. So this\Nmeans that there's a real possibility of
Dialogue: 0,0:45:04.70,0:45:10.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,incubation periods in variant\NCreutzfeldt–Jakob disease of up to 100
Dialogue: 0,0:45:10.80,0:45:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,years beyond the normal human lifespan.\NAnd that's a big worry from the public
Dialogue: 0,0:45:16.75,0:45:18.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,health point of view.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:19.03,0:45:26.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because kuru, BSE in cattle—that's a\Ndisease of the brain. Variant CJD is not
Dialogue: 0,0:45:26.61,0:45:31.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just a disease of the brain; it's a\Ndisease of the lymph organs. It's in the
Dialogue: 0,0:45:31.18,0:45:37.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spleen, in the tonsils, in the gut, and in\Nthe blood. And this means that there's
Dialogue: 0,0:45:37.67,0:45:41.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a risk that the disease could be\Nunknowingly transmitted by blood
Dialogue: 0,0:45:41.82,0:45:47.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,transfusion or organ transplants. And\Nindeed, there already has been transmission
Dialogue: 0,0:45:47.94,0:45:51.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from human to human through\Nblood.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:54.35,0:45:58.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Scientific research now focused\Non genetic studies trying to determine
Dialogue: 0,0:45:58.85,0:46:02.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why some people contracted the disease\Nearlier than others.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:03.16,0:46:07.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Reeder] The work now is I'm looking at\Nthe genetics of the families and
Dialogue: 0,0:46:07.04,0:46:11.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the populations that kuru has affected.\NIs there anything different about the
Dialogue: 0,0:46:11.02,0:46:14.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people who have gone down with kuru\Nearly to those who go down late?
Dialogue: 0,0:46:14.54,0:46:18.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is there anything different about the\Npeople who don't get kuru, even though
Dialogue: 0,0:46:18.20,0:46:21.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they might have been present at the\Nfeasting where the prion was?
Dialogue: 0,0:46:21.56,0:46:25.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The genetic research has\Nshown that the majority of humans
Dialogue: 0,0:46:25.44,0:46:29.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are likely to have longer incubation\Nperiods. And although the number
Dialogue: 0,0:46:29.58,0:46:34.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of variant CJD cases peaked in the UK\Nin 2000 with only a handful of cases
Dialogue: 0,0:46:34.48,0:46:39.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout the rest of the world, Michael\Nnow believes there could be a much
Dialogue: 0,0:46:39.25,0:46:43.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,larger wave of the epidemic for decades\Nto follow.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:44.26,0:46:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] The first 200 cases of variant\NCJD were all of the kind genetically
Dialogue: 0,0:46:49.78,0:46:55.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that have short incubation periods. And\Nso we predicted from our knowledge
Dialogue: 0,0:46:55.69,0:47:02.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of kuru that another wave of the epidemic\Nmay come, which would be much broader
Dialogue: 0,0:47:02.39,0:47:08.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and longer, and that new wave has probably\Njust begun.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:09.81,0:47:17.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[shouting]
Dialogue: 0,0:47:17.20,0:47:22.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] But the genetic studies have\Nalso revealed a spectacular discovery
Dialogue: 0,0:47:22.37,0:47:25.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about all our ancient ancestors.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:26.12,0:47:30.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] There are certain genetic\Npatterns that are found in the Fore.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:30.26,0:47:38.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they clearly relate to the presence\Nof kuru. And looking in other human
Dialogue: 0,0:47:39.42,0:47:44.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,populations, sophisticated genetic\Nstudies were done. And the expectation
Dialogue: 0,0:47:44.96,0:47:51.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was the kuru and the Fore would be\None pattern and the rest of the world
Dialogue: 0,0:47:51.43,0:47:58.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would be the contrasting pattern. But no.\NIt turned out that these detailed studies
Dialogue: 0,0:47:58.63,0:48:05.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suggested that in the remote human past,\Nthe same practices occurred.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:06.33,0:48:11.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cannibalism and such practices were\Nuniversal.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:13.70,0:48:18.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] In other words, we could all\Nbe descended from ancient cultures
Dialogue: 0,0:48:18.18,0:48:24.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which practiced the eating of their dead.\NBut even in more recent history,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:24.69,0:48:28.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cannibalism in its various forms was more\Nwidespread than we commonly accept.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:28.75,0:48:31.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:48:31.35,0:48:34.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Reeder] I think there's very, very\Nimportant social aspects that have
Dialogue: 0,0:48:34.76,0:48:39.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,come out of the research here that\Nneed to be remembered, and that is
Dialogue: 0,0:48:39.64,0:48:43.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the consumption of human flesh is just\Nnot unique to this particular area.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:44.89,0:48:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a very common practice in the\NBritish Navy in the 17th century.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:48.62,0:48:53.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The recollections of the "roasting of\Nthe long pig," or you see the shipwrecked
Dialogue: 0,0:48:53.16,0:48:55.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sailor sort of stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:57.01,0:49:01.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Lindenbaum] People in England attended\Nhangings to get the first blood to drink
Dialogue: 0,0:49:01.40,0:49:07.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the 17th and 18th centuries in England.\NYou know, so—so we were cannibals
Dialogue: 0,0:49:07.56,0:49:12.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ourselves. It's our supression of it in\Nourselves that's given us this attitude
Dialogue: 0,0:49:12.36,0:49:16.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about other people. We think that we're\Nso civilized and other people are not.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:16.96,0:49:23.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Reeder] This isn't some strange practice\Nby a primitive people in PNG, this is a
Dialogue: 0,0:49:23.14,0:49:27.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fairly common social practice that a\Nmillennia ago we might have seen
Dialogue: 0,0:49:27.39,0:49:30.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,similar practices all around the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:30.67,0:49:38.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[music]
Dialogue: 0,0:49:38.05,0:49:42.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] Michael has devoted 50 years\Nof his life to helping the Fore.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:42.45,0:49:46.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And today, they're putting on a public\Nfeast to honor him.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:46.20,0:49:47.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[clapping
Dialogue: 0,0:49:47.21,0:49:50.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To the Fore, he is family.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:51.58,0:49:56.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Right from the beginning, there\Nwas this bond of common humanity.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:56.10,0:50:00.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is something you don't get from\Nreading the anthropological literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:00.36,0:50:05.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You always get the feeling that these\Npeople are so different, that you could
Dialogue: 0,0:50:05.37,0:50:10.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,never really connect. But the connection\Ncame almost immediately. That was an
Dialogue: 0,0:50:10.53,0:50:13.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,extraordinary experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:37.66,0:50:41.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] And for Michael, it's a\Nrelationship he hopes will one day
Dialogue: 0,0:50:41.56,0:50:45.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,finally emerge from the shadow of\Nkuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:46.66,0:50:51.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Alpers] Kuru has always been central\Nto my life from the moment I started
Dialogue: 0,0:50:51.79,0:50:59.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on it. And it's still there. We haven't\Nsnipped that thread yet. And I hope—
Dialogue: 0,0:51:00.30,0:51:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've hoped now for some time that I'll\Nbe able to be around when we can say
Dialogue: 0,0:51:06.15,0:51:09.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we've seen the last case of kuru.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:30.14,0:51:35.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[singing]
Dialogue: 0,0:51:38.17,0:51:41.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[narrator] The DVD of this program is\Navailable at Dimmick's and JB Hifi.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:41.70,0:51:45.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For more information about the\N"Secrets of the Human Body" science
Dialogue: 0,0:51:45.76,0:51:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,season, go to sbs.com.au/documentary.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:48.91,0:51:52.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[singing]