ANTH 2079 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Botulism, Igloo, Lichen
Document Summary
Chapter 1: the ecology of health and disease. Profile: arctic adaptations: human adaptability, adaptation is a central concept of medical ecology and is defined as. This response, associated with brown adipose tissue, is found in all human infants and is maintained in adult. So, when they are exposed to cold air, blood flow to their hands and feet rapidly increased, preventing frostbite. Accidents were the predominant cause of injury & death: health problems of traditional inuit were primarily chronic conditions: arthritis, eye injuries, deficient in enamel formation on the teeth, parasites, spinal defects, and osteoporosis. Piblotoq, a hysterical syndrome, affected people mostly in the winter. A working model of ecology and health: the environment is three-fold: the abiotic (climate, landforms, etc. First, there is no single cause of disease. The immediate, clinically detectable trigger for disease may be a virus, a vitamin deficiency, or an intestinal parasite, but the matrix of disease itself resides in ecosystem imbalances.