PNEUMONIA IN ANTIQUITY : A COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO PREANTIBIOTIC POPULATION SAMPLES FROM NORTHERN CHILE AND THE UNITED STATES

This study is an effort to establish the contribution that pneumonia made to the causes of death in antiquity in the Andean coastal region of northern Chile. In addition, results were compared with modern populations from the 1920s, before effective therapy was widely available for this disease. A g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chungará 2008-07, Vol.40 (2), p.173-180
Main Authors: AUFDERHEIDE, Arthur C, WITTMERS, Lorentz E, ARRIAZA, Bernardo
Format: Article
Language:eng ; spa
Subjects:
ANTHROPOLOGY
Antropología
Biology
Epidemiology
History of science and technology
Life sciences
Microbiology
parasitology
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Summary:This study is an effort to establish the contribution that pneumonia made to the causes of death in antiquity in the Andean coastal region of northern Chile. In addition, results were compared with modern populations from the 1920s, before effective therapy was widely available for this disease. A group of 197 spontaneously ("naturally") desiccated, mummified human remains from South America's western coast between about 19 to 21 degrees South Latitude (South Central Andes) was examined. The status of pathological, desiccated lungs was classified into the categories of normal and acute pneumonia on the basis of gross examination. The percentage of deaths (all ages) due to pneumonia in these mummies was 22.3% compared to the 10.1% (p =
ISSN:0716-1182
0717-7356
0717-7356
DOI:10.4067/S0717-73562008000200005