Studies on Viral, Bacterial, Rickettsial and Treponemal Diseases in the Hadza of Tanzania and a Note on Injuries

Document Type

Article

Authors

F J. Bennett, Makerere University College, Kampala, Uganda
N A. Barnicot, University College London, England
J C. Woodburn, London School of Economics
M S. Pereira, Central Public Health Laboratory, Colindale, London
B E. Henderson, Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda, and University of Southern California, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Abstract

A sample of 491 Hadza, including members of both eastern and western and settled and nomadic groups, was examined clinically. Tests for anti­bodies to various viral, bacterial and other pathogens were done on selected subsamples, especially of the nomads. Active tuberculosis was detected in about 1% of the sample and in a subsample of 172, 36% of the males and 13% of the females were Heaf positive, with little difference between settled and nomadic groups. A few cases of tuberculoid leprosy were seen. Acute conjunctivitis was frequent in young children and chronic conjunctivitis was quite common in adults. Clinical observations, supplemented by some serological evidence suggests that streptococcal infections are a significant cause of morbidity. Evidence of quite severe injuries, often due to falls from trees and occasionally due to wild animals, was not infrequent in older men. Some cases of survival of seriously handicapped individuals are cited. A few cases of gonorrhoea were seen in men, especially of the western group. Serological tests for treponematosis showed only 13/211 positives, most of them older women with histories of much outside contact. There was little clinical evidence of yaws. An intensive serological study of one nomadic camp, considered to represent Hadza with minimal outside contacts, showed about 2/3 of them to be positive for influenza A & B, measles, respiratory syncytial and poliovirus antibodies. Some positives for antibodies to food-poisoning Salmonellae were found. In larger samples of nomadic Hadza nearly all were positive for antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus and about 1/3 for B. pertussis, but only one was positive for Brucella and none for Leptospira antibodies. In HI tests with 9 arbovirus antigens on a sample of 139 Hadza, Sindbis (19/139) and West Nile (18/139) gave the most frequent positive reactions. No group B virus positives were found in the western group. One out of 4 HI positives for O’nyongnyong was con­firmed by a neutralization test.

Erratum

See "Errata from 45-4"

Recommended Citation

Bennett, F J.; Barnicot, N A.; Woodburn, J C.; Pereira, M S.; and Henderson, B E. (1973) "Studies on Viral, Bacterial, Rickettsial and Treponemal Diseases in the Hadza of Tanzania and a Note on Injuries," Human Biology: Vol. 45: Iss. 2, Article 10.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol45/iss2/10