REINHARD 



in March 19 59, yielded highly significant results in that epidemic 

 of Type 3 poliovirus infection were found to occur in individuals who 

 had received the full course of formalin- inactivated (Salk) vaccine. 

 None of the individuals were ill when sampled. 



Table III, derived from a virological study of pediatric disease 

 in Anchorage shows that enteroviruses were found in every season 

 in this urban area in association with overt disease. Because of 

 overburdened laboratory facilities, virological surveys of healthy 

 urban residents were not conducted. 



Quite unfortunately, time, facilities, and tenure of research 

 operations did not allow these exploratory studies to mature into 

 more rigorous studies of the natural history of enteroviral in- 

 fections in the Arctic. It would have been intriguing and profitable 

 to monitor selected representative villages closely by virological 

 and epidemiological means in order to detect the influx, spread, 

 and persistence of various types of enteroviruses in different geo- 

 graphic areas, thereby enabling one to determine the kind of clinical 

 diseases which may have been associated with them. Persistence 

 of virus in various phases of the physical environment could have 

 been studied both naturally and experimentally. However, incomplete 

 as the exploratory studies were, they did demonstrate that entero- 

 viruses, in surprisingly large variety and concentration, share the 

 arctic environment with man..,or vice versa.' 



Confronted with the certainty of the presence and prevalence of 

 enteroviruses in Alaska, one is liable to follow the arctic epidemio- 

 logical cliche and presume that enteroviruses have been introduced 

 into Alaska perhaps early in this century or even more recently, 

 and have become established and entrenched in the native population 

 before the present days of epidemiological surveillance. However, 

 I would like to present the thesis that enteroviruses might have 

 accompanied man in his migrations into Alaska from the Asian 

 continent milleniums ago. Of course, this thesis is beyond proof, 

 and it is really presented here mostly to combat the arctic epi- 

 demiological cliche. There are features of the enteroviruses, how- 

 ever, which suggest strongly that they have been constant com- 

 panions of the human race since time immemorial. 



58 



