Distribution of Culture‐Bound Illnesses in the Southern Peruvian Andes

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Abstract
An epidemiologic investigation of three culture‐bound illnesses in the Peruvian Andes shows significant variation in prevalence according to age, gender, and social stratification, as indicated by residence. Data were collected on the three illnesses, manchariska, machu wayra, and machu hapiska, in the Nuñoa district, in the southern Peruvian Andes (N = 384 individuals). Period prevalence for manchariska is 6.77 episodes per 100 persons per year (95% c.i. = 4.47 to 9.76); for machu wayra, 3.13 (95% c.i. = 1.63 to 5.40); and for machu hapiska, 052 (95% c.i. = 0.06 to 1.87). Manchariska rates are highest among children, whereas machu wayra and machu hapiska are confined to adults, especially the elderly. Females are over eight times more likely than males to have machu wayra (p = .013). Households in the poorer communities are more likely to report the illnesses compared with others. Households with one or more culture‐bound illness episodes report a higher number of other problems, but culture‐bound illness prevalence is not correlated with poor child health as reflected by anthropometric measures of child growth. Future research should link epidemiologic methods with more traditional ethnographic approaches and more thoroughly investigate the ethnomedical reasons why some groups have a higher probability of experiencing culture‐boundillnesses than others.