Acute Intestinal Disease in the Arctic

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Abstract
Between 1954 and 1957 field studies of acute intestinal disease were carried out in arctic portions of Alaska, Finland, Norway, and Greenland in cooperation with national health departments or university staffs. Demographic data and family histories were obtained by household interviews. Single stool specimens were examined for bacterial pathogens and parasites. Annual incidence rates for acute diarrheal disease based on summer surveys ranged from 566 per 1000 in Greenland to 130 per 1000 in Finnish Lapland. In general, the age group 0-4 years had highest rates, and summer was the season of greatest incidence. On the basis of summer surveys in all 4 areas, Greenland had the highest prevalence (14 per 1000) and Alaska the highest carrier rate for bacterial pathogens (40 per 1000). Typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever B, and dysentery occur endemically in all areas; epidemics of paratyphoid fever B and dysentery was seen. Outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisoning and of acute diarrhea of suggestive viral origin were also investigated. No Salmonella of animal or other origin were recovered from 173 dogs. Intestinal parasites were found in all areas, with Diphyllobothrium latum in 4% of arctic Finnish populations and Entamoeba histolytica in 19% of Greenland single specimens examined. Transmission of diarrheal disorders was primarily by contact, with frequency of disease closely related to features of the environment, especially social environment.

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