PRNP and prion disease: Similar variations in the PRNP gene have been identified in humans [24], with polymorphisms at positions 127 and 129 associated with resistance to kuru, a prion disease linked to cannibalistic practices of the Fore people of Papua New Guinea [25], and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), linked to the consumption of beef contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions [26].