TROPICAL RAINFORESTS: Human Inhabitants
Indigenous Health
Research has found that unacculturated Indigenous peoples have remarkable health compared to that of assimilated tribal peoples, poor rural populations, and many city dwellers. In the 1970s, an American team documented the health of the Waorani at the time of contact. The team found no evidence of hypertension, anemia, heart disease, or cancer. In fact, the Waorani "ranked as one of the few populations in the world where blood pressure does not increase with age. The people had practically no internal parasites and virtually no secondary bacterial infections. They had never been exposed to polio or pneumonia, nor was there any evidence that smallpox, chicken pox, typhus, or typhoid fever affected the tribe. There was no syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria, or serum hepatitis" (Davis 1996).However, the Waorani did have their ailments, typically fungal infections, external parasites, and various wounds from snakebites, burns, spear injuries and the like. Most Waorani were in need of a good dentist and there was a heavy presence of yellow fever, herpes, and hepatitis B.
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Suggested reading
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Continued: People of the Rainforest
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]
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