Diseases of Indians on Virgin Soil. There

¶ … diseases of Indians on virgin soil. There is one reference used for this paper.

Over the course of time, the aborigine populations have declined due to disease. It is important to look at factors which may have contributed to this declines, as well as possible rebounds in the populations.

New Arrivals

Many historians believe that the arrival of Europeans and the Spanish resulted in Indian populations being exposed to a number of diseases which had previously wrecked havoc overseas.

Virgin Soil Epidemics

There is "no doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the precipitous decline and it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic diseases, especially as manifested in virgin soil epidemics. Virgin soil epidemics are those in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless. The importance of virgin soil epidemics in American history is strongly indicted by evidence that a member of dangerous maladies -- smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly several more -- were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World (Crosby, 289)."

Mammoth Declines

As the newcomers made contact with the aborigines, the diseases they brought with them began to take their toll on the populations. In the early 1600's, Indian populations in New England declined by ninety percent due to bubonic or pneumonic plague. Smallpox was responsible for the deaths of more than fifty percent of the Huron, Iroquois, Cherokee and Catawbas nations, as well as two-thirds of the Omaha and four-fifths of the Indian population near the Columbia River.

Additional Effects

The pathology of the diseases was not the only cause of death among the Indians. There are a number of contributing factors which can possibly explain the severity of the decline. Since they had not previously been exposed to the diseases, they did not know how to treat them, often producing disastrous results. Some Indians saw the effects of the diseases on others, and upon exhibiting shows of being infected, chose to commit suicide rather than suffer or be deformed.

The diseases took their toll on the bodies physically, making it difficult to obtain nourishment, shelter and fire for cooking and heat. Infants and small children were affected when their mothers were unable to nurse them due to lack of milk production and/or strength. Due to the close proximity of the living quarters, the diseases could easily spread throughout entire families, as well as tribes.