| Summary: | Eskimos Free From Infection: Only Afflicted With Colds When Outsiders Arrives In Village./Easily Fall Victim./One Settlement Develops Ailment 72 Hours After American Expedition Halts There. ESKIMOS FREF FROM INFECTION Only Afflicted With Colds When Outsiders Arrive in Villages. EASILY FALL VICTIM ST. LOUIS, Nov. 24. OP)-Although the Eskimos of Baffin island and Greenland are very susceptible to the common cold and other infections of the upper respiratory tract and live in a climate which might be expected to foster such conditions, they apparently never are attacked by these diseases except wnen they come in contact with the less frigid outside world. This point is emphasized in a paper by Dr. Peter Helnbecker, fellow of the National Research council In medicine at "Washington university, who was a member of the Greenland expedition of the American Museum of Natural History in 1928 and of the Putman Baffin island expedition last year, in collaboration with Dr. Edith I. M. Irvine-Jones, Thereon Catlin, fellow of the St. Louis Children's hospital. "In the summer of 1926, as the members of the Greenland expedition of the American museum of Natural History made their way up the west coast of Greenland," the paper relates, "it was noted that in certain of the settlements every native was the victim of an acute replratory tract infection, while in others no evidence of such infection was present. Followed By Colds. "Investigation revealed that in the former some contact had invariable beeen made with the outside world prior to their coming, while in the latter, within 48 to 72 hours of their arrival,a ll the natives developed acute respiratory infections with sneezing, coughing and spitting, "Farther north, among the polar Eskimos, where it was certain that no outside contact had been made that year, there was never the slightest evidence of acute respiratory tract infections at the time of the arrival of the expedition, but within 72 hours nearly every Eskimo of the settlement developed such an Infection. It was not necessary for any member of the expedltlon to have an acute respiratory infection for the malady to appear among the natives. Wounds Henl Rapidly. "Dr. Knud Rasmussen, the arctic explorer, who was a member of the expedition, gave us considerable information about the course of such epidemics. In the fall of the year the infection susides and does not reappear until another contact has been made with the outside word." Despite the poor hygienic conditions which exist among the Eskimos and their unusual exposure to occupational injuries, the paper, published by the American Association of Immunologlsts, also records the observation that their wounds heal rapidly and without the attendant infections frequently encountered elsewhere. This is believed to bo the result either of a scarcity of pus-producing bacteria in those regions or to exceptional qualities of resistance in the skin of the Eskimos. "No history of scarlet fever, diphtheria or measles could be obtained," the paper says, "and it seems quite unlikely that, these illnesses ever have occurred In this region during the lifetime of the present generation." Their immunity to these disease, which other peoples are thought to develop only through exposure to the germs, is attributed to heredity.
|
|---|