User:Shayna F/Kuru (disease)

Verification
Kuru is diagnosed through their cerebellar signs/symptoms history, clinical presentation, neurological exams, and excluding other neurological diseases during exams. The symptoms evaluated are typically coordination issues and involuntary muscle movements, but these markers can be confused with other condition that affects the nervous and muscle system and requires physical scans to differentiate Kuru from other disorders. There is no helpful lab testing that is specifically for diagnosing Kuru, except postmortem evaluation of Central Nervous System (CNS) tissues, so the main way of testing is using the process of elimination against other diseases.

For example, Electroencephalogram (EEG) is used to discern Kuru and a similar encephalopathy, any disease that affects the structure of the brain, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CDJ). EEG search for electrical activity in the patient's brain and measure the frequency of each wave to determine if there is an issue with the brain's activity. Periodic complexes (PC), reoccurring patterns with spike wave-complexes occurring at intervals, are recorded frequently in some diseases but are not presented in the Kuru readings. Exams and testing, like EEG, MRIs, blood test, and scans, can be one of the ways to determine if the infected person is dealing with Kuru disease or another encephalopathy. However, testing over periods of time can be a problem.

An individual affected with Kuru disease begins to be in a terminal decline and only becomes more ill as there is no current treatment or vaccine for prion diseases. They develop other issues involving dietary deficiency, ulcers, infections, and more that can lead to death. If the diagnosis does not happen in the earlier stages, where the infected can function better with less coordination issues, it can become difficult for the individual to continue testing as they go on to the harsher phases of Kuru.