Re: diseases and immunity (TB addendum)

Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com)
9 Jul 1996 22:55:48 GMT

In article <4rug8v$9sf@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com>, mbwillia@ix.netcom.com(Mary Beth Williams) writes:

|> In <4ru3hs$bdj@news.sdd.hp.com> geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl)
|> writes:

|> >Mcneill does mention something like this, discussing a group of
|> >"canadian indians" on their first exposure to TB. He doesn't say when
|> >it happened; I assumed 19th century. He does say that at first
|> >exposure, the infection looked totally unlike TB; not only were the
|> >internal organs attacked, but also the spinal meninges. By the third
|> >generation, the infection settled down into the familiar pulmonary
|> >pattern.

|> As a fizzy note, the claim that an attack on the spine (vertebral
|> tuberculosis) is found only in American Indian populations is
|> completely erroneous. As Ortner and Putschar note, *Vertebral
|> tuberculosis is, is practically all of the clinical and autopsy series,
|> the most common and characteristic lesion.* (p. 145) This is true in
|> all ethnicities, not only Native Americans.

Sorry, the my statement should not be interpreted as a claim that only
indians suffered vertebral lesions due to TB. Mcneill stated that
symptoms of tubercular *meningitis* were observed.

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---- Gerold Firl @ ..hplabs!hp-sdd!geroldf