ARCTIC EPIDEMIOLOGY 



herpes simplex, influenza and adeno-viruses, to name several- were 

 the same as one might find in many other parts of the world. 



But if we are dealing with familiar agents of disease, we are also 

 dealing with agents which may be responsible for widespread sick- 

 ness and death. The impact of imported illness among Indians and 

 Eskimos is a sad story, and one we hardly have time to document 

 this morning. Suffice it to say that in the 19th century, waves of 

 smallpox, typhoid fever, pneumonia, meningitis and measles swept 

 through susceptible arctic populations, and tuberculosis has been 

 endemic at a high level for decades. In fact, it is only within very 

 recent years that accidents have replaced tuberculosis as the pri- 

 mary killer. Currently, accidents accountfor approximately a quar- 

 ter of total deaths in the Eskimos of Alaska and Greenland (Alaska 

 Health Dept., 1962; The State of Health in Greenland, 19 59). 



As a measure of life threatening forces, you might be interested 

 in a few comparative statistics. In 19 59, the mortality rate for 

 Alaskan natives was 9.7 per 1000 population and for Greenlanders, 

 10.3 per 1000 (Alaska Health Dept., 1962; The State of Health in 

 Greenland, 19 59). This is close to the 9.3 per 1000 experienced by 

 the white population of continental United States, or "the lower 48", 

 as Alaskans call it. The birth rate for Alaskan natives that same 

 year was 47.7 per 1000, and for Greenlanders, 51 per 1000; more 

 than twice as high as the birth rate among whites in continental 

 United States (23.1 per 1000). Taken together, the current birth and 

 death rates mean that close to 40 people are being added to each 

 1000 in the population each year, thus giving Greenland and Alaska 

 one of the highest rates of natural increase in the world. If this 

 annual four per cent increase is maintained, the population will 

 double in less than eighteen years. Considering limited arctic re- 

 sources, and especially the limited locally available food supplies, 

 it is obvious that the growing population will be more and more de- 

 pendent upon goods and services brought in from outside. 



We will hear much pertinent information about the influence of 

 environment on disease agents in the coming sessions. Under natural 

 conditions in the Arctic, a human pathogen, to survive, must either 

 complete its life cycle within the body of man or some other warm 

 blooded animal, or the agent must be able to withstand exposure to 



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