The author was 21 years old when he was invited by a Nobel Prize- winning scientist at the National Institutes of Health to study the disease kuru in Papua New Guinea. His narrative, a combination medical mystery, travelogue, and personal coming-of-age story, takes readers into primordial rain forests to meet a Stone Age people whose practice of ritual cannibalism spread the disease among over half the population. What he discovered provided keys to understanding Mad Cow disease, which may become the world's next major epidemic. Includes b&w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc. , Portland, Or.