In 1955, Dr. Vincent Zigas discovered that kuru, a deadly inflammation of the brain widespread among the indigenous people of New Guinea, was caused by a practice linked to a local funeral rite: eating the brains of deceased relatives. Another encephalopathy that resembles kuru is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is not only found in New Guinea. Creutzfeldt-Jakob is rare and a difficult-to-diagnose problem, as it is sometimes confused with diseases like Alzheimer's. Both kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob are caused by an infectious protein, the prion, present in the tissues of the affected individuals even after death.
G. Maga, Batteri spazzini e virus che curano, Zanichelli
Only one of the following statements is coherent with the excerpt:
A) Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Alzheimer's are diseases whose diagnoses can be confused with each other
B) Alzheimer's is recognizable as a development of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
C) Vincent Zigas discovered a cure for the negative effects of prions
D) Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is widespread in New Guinea as a result of the practice of consuming the brains of deceased relatives
E) the prion is a bacterium which develops after death inside tissue proteins
IMAT 2025 · Question 4
Q4 - Reading skills
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The correct answer is A) Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Alzheimer's are diseases whose diagnoses can be confused with each other.
The passage says CJD is sometimes confused with Alzheimer's, and that it resembles kuru, since both are caused by prions. So all three can be mixed up in diagnosis.
The others don't hold up against the text. It never says Alzheimer's develops from CJD. Zigas found the cause of kuru, not a cure. The funeral practice explains kuru, not CJD, which is also found outside New Guinea. And a prion is a protein, not a bacterium.
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