Further studies on tularemia in Alaska: human tularemia

The extent of tularemic infection in Indians in east-central Alaska and in Eskimos in southwestern Alaska was determined serologically. A greater percentage of Indians (6.9) had agglutinins than did Eskimos (3.6). Indications of recent infection were found only in the Indians. Neither of the two Ind...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Microbiology
Main Author: Miller, Lawrence G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1974
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/m74-241
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/m74-241
Description
Summary:The extent of tularemic infection in Indians in east-central Alaska and in Eskimos in southwestern Alaska was determined serologically. A greater percentage of Indians (6.9) had agglutinins than did Eskimos (3.6). Indications of recent infection were found only in the Indians. Neither of the two Indians who experienced seroconversion during the study had a history of clinical illness. A clinical case of tularemia in a laboratory worker is described, the severity of which seems to preclude the hare-tick strain of Francisella tularensis as the etiologic agent in inapparent infections in the aboriginal populations. Further epidemiological and epizootiologic investigations of tularemia in subarctic North America are indicated, since outbreaks associated with the water-rodent strain elsewhere suggest that its low virulence in the indigenous people may not be constant.