pathology of Kuru
Last reviewed 01/2018
The histological appearances of Kuru are similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with a triad of spongiform vacuolation, neuronal loss and astrocytic proliferation.
These changes however predominantly affect the striatum and cerebellum. In addition however there are characteristic Kuru plaques of Amyloid containing a 27 kdalton prion protein, which are found inthe cerebellum in 60% of cases.
Reference:
- Robbins Pathological Basis of Disease. Cotran, Kumar, Robbins 9th Edition, 2014