Zigas of the Papua New Guinea Department of Health, and Dr. Gajdusek from the United States National Institutes of Health, which began in 1957. Because the majority of instances of kuru were found in the South Fore territory occurring in small interrelated populations, "it was proposed that kuru was a hereditary disorder, determined by a single autosomal gene that was dominant in females but recessive in males (p. 15)." The author and fellow anthropologist, Robert Glasse, reputed this theory after gathering evidence among the 8,000 South Fore people during 1962 and 1963. Glasse and Lindenbaum proposed the hypothesis that the occurrence of kuru was directly related to cannibalism. "The distribution of human flesh for consumption thus crossed genetic lines much as the distribution of kuru did (p. 22).".
The South Fore people began practicing protein endocannibalism as recently as the early 1900's while the first case of kuru appeared among them in 1922 in Kasokana. The victims of the disease were primarily women and children of both sexes who relied upon small game, insects, frogs, and dead humans for protein while the men claimed wild boar and domestic pigs. "Among South Fore, a man's brain could be eaten by his sister, and in the North, by his sister as well as his son's wife and maternal aunts and uncles. A woman's brain, perhaps the most significant body matter in transmission of the disease, was said to be given to her son's wife or her brother's wife (p. 21)." The Australian government attempted to stop cannibalism in 1947, only succeeding with the North Fore, while the South Fore continued the practice. The South Fore abandoned cannibalism only after 1955, when a major road was constructed which ran from Okapa to Purosa. The cessation of cannibalism among the South Fore was the contributory factor to the virtual elimination of kuru. However, because of the slow incubation period of the disease (minimum 2 years, maximum 23 years), "The only Fore and Gimi currently coming down with kuru are those who participated in cannibal meals prior to 1955 (p.
