THE
6
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
TUBERCULOSIS AMONG IN D IA N S
BY
DR.
C.
D.
FULK ERSO N,
o f Chemawa.
The following is from an address delivered by Dr. C. D. Fulkerson
at a meeting in Salem conducted by the National Association for the
Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis:
For some days we have been discussing the subject of Tuberculosis—
its cause, means of prevention, remedial measures, etc. We find that
it is the cause of more deaths than any other disease that afflicts man
kind. All races pay their toll, but some are more susceptible than
others and the mortality greater. The Indian race is very susceptible.
A few years ago their percentage of deaths was sixteen times greater
than that of the white race. All tribes now have this disease. It is
said that a few years ago the Indians of the Navajo Spring Agency,
Colorado, were free; but now even this tribe is not exempt. We find it
among the Indians of the colder regions of Alaska and the hot climate
of the Southwest; in the mountains and on the plains; in the dry and
wet regions alike.
It is not so much a matter of where we live as how. It is not possible
to obtain accurate statistics, but to the best of our knowledge it causes
95 per cent of the deaths among the Mohajes, 90 per cent among the
Nez Perce, 66 per cent among the Pimasand Maricopas, and 75 percent
among the Havasupais and Walapais; it is less frequent but very fatal
among the Apaches; there are few cases among the Zunis, but the mor
tality is almost 100 per cent.
The Sioux are a fine physical type, yet the mortality is as great as
of other tribes. A few years ago Dr. Jas. Walker, of Pine Ridge reser
vation, S. D., read a paper before the National Association for the Study
and Prevention of Tuberculosis in which he stated that the death rate
among the Sioux Indians of this reservation was more than fifteen times
greater than among the whites of the entire U. S His record covered
about 7,000 individuals and over a period of ten years. For two years
I was one of the physicians of the adjoining Rosebud reservation and
found conditions there similar.
The pulmonary, osseous, and lymphatic are the principal forms
found. In some tribes the percentage afflicted by the lymphatic form
is very great, especially among tbe children and young adults; the
majority recover, but many are later attacked by the pulmonary form
and succumb. Many adults show scars on the neck and jaws resulting
from the destruction of lymphatic g ands during childhood and youth.
Why is this disease more prevalent ard fatal with the Indian than
other races? It is comparatively a new disease to them; fifty years ago