kuru and other diseases such as dysentery and whooping cough had a significant influence on fore culture. oftentimes, these diseases represented the physical manifestations of sorcery to the fore people, which contributed to warfare and the development of religious rituals against sorcery. furthermore, kuru predominantly affected women, as women more commonly partook in cannibalistic religious rituals. because of this, there was a significant sex imbalance in fore society. by some accounts, this gender imbalance reached a 3:1 male to female ratio at its worst. this affected the family structure of the fore, as it became commonplace for children to be raised and cared for only by their fathers.