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Impetigo is widely prevalent. In the schools it is frequently due to faulty hygiene or a lack of prophylaxis and steps have been taken to prevent its spread by intensive treatment and isolation.
In order to determine the extent of hookworm the International Health Board has recently made a survey of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina. Cases of hookworm also exist in southeastern Oklahoma. In the Navajo country a visitor suggested the presence of hookworm, and the microscopic examination of fifty stools revealed four positives. Nothing further has been done to determine the prevalence of this disease among the Navajos.
Erysipelas has frequently recurred at the Rapid City non-reservation boarding school during the past few years. The district medical officer has made a careful study of the matter to institute methods of eradication.
Goitre, which in the general population is usually localized to communities within the so-called goitre belt of the United States, has been reported among Indians in Wyoming, at Keshena, Wisconsin, and around Bishop, California. In the Pacific Northwest no cases are reported among Indians, although not infrequently cases are found among whites.
Available figures indicate but few deaths due to cancer; heart disease accounted for 110 deaths in the table for eleven reservations previously presented, but its exact prevalence is not known.
Certain General Factors Affecting Indian Health. Certain general factors influence the health of the Indians: (1) Environment; (2) food; (3) alcohol, opium, peyote; (4) racial status.
Climatic conditions affecting health vary as much among Indians as among whites, since Indian communities are scattered throughout nearly all the states of the Union. The main body of the Indian race, however, is confined largely to the Southwest (Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico, principally), the Pacific Coast (Washington and California, principally), and the Northwest (Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, principally). Climatic peculiarities of these sections of the country to some extent affect housing facilities, water supply, sewage disposal, and other environmental factors which influence Indian life.
For the most part, the dwellings in the Southwest are of a temporary nature, the hogan, wickiup, tepee or tent. That the primitive
dwellings are temporary is in one sense a great blessing, for they
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