During the period of institutionalization, infectious and respiratory diseases accounted for more than 50% of recorded deaths on 8 separate Aboriginal settlements in south-eastern Australia. Aboriginal rates were high compared to the non-Aboriginal populations of Victoria and South Australia.
Introduction
Research to date
In a discussion of the origins of the first recorded smallpox epidemic among Aboriginal populations in 1789, he suggested that it may have been started by the deliberate release of the virus from the government's stockpile of miscellaneous material. A brief review of early published material on introduced diseases was provided as background for the main focus of the chapter.
Aims
Scope
The period to be covered begins in 1788 with the establishment of the colony of New South Wales and ends in 1900, the last year before Federation. Before the arrival of the First Fleet, there was sporadic contact between Europeans on the east coast of mainland Australia and Tasmania.
Significance of thesis
He later had to spend seven weeks at the mouth of the Endeavor River (now Cooktown), repairing Endeavor before leaving Australia via the Torres Strait. It adds to the growing literature on the biological consequences to which indigenous populations were subjected as a result of the expansion of European powers in the Pacific and the New World.
Sources and methods
Historical sources
Many of the references to illness in this material were by the protector or sub-protector who in most cases had no medical background. The majority of the mission settlements were under the administration of the various mission bodies which appointed their own superintendents.
Skeletal evidence
The severity of the disease also had no influence on the degree of bone changes. The lesions caused by the treponeme, especially in the tertiary phase of the infection, can be easily identified in dry bone (Hackett 1976).
Origin of diseases
Organisation
Introduction
A Medical Model for Contact in Southeast Australia
Colonial governments and missionary organizations in south-eastern Australia were convinced of the eventual extinction of Aboriginal people. Population decline continued into the first decades of the twentieth century, when the trend began to reverse (Smith.
Epidemiological Considerations
Pre-contact disease
suggest that the acceptance of pre-contact health has led to the distorted use of the epidemiological term 'epidemic of virgin soil' (Crosby 1976) by many researchers. The Aborigines of southeastern Australia lacked herd immunity to introduced diseases and the region was unspoiled soil for many pathogens endemic among Europeans.
Post-contact Epidemics
If herd immunity to a particular disease is high, then the chance of the disease turning into an epidemic is low. There is no such evidence of the disease among pre-contact Australian populations (Dowling 1990; Webb 1984a, 1989) and it was almost certainly absent from South-East Australia before 1788 (Thomson 1991:62).
European and Aboriginal concepts of disease and curing
The fundamental principle of treating the sick and influencing recovery was to restore the balance of the humors. Many of the drugs used in the nineteenth century were patent medicines that were of little use in reducing the symptoms of infection.
Introduction
Molnar estimates that 1.5 million deaths occurred in the major population centers of Mexico after the arrival of the Spanish. In 1853, smallpox killed up to 8% of Hawaii's native population; in the Carolines it was responsible for up to 40% of deaths; and on Guam 33%.
Biology of smallpox
The last crusting phase was established on the sixth or seventh day of the rash. Secondary fever was rare and victims usually remained ambulatory and less affected over the course of the disease (Fenner et al.
Smallpox among the European population of Southeast Australia
The sequence of development and distribution of skin lesions were also similar, but their evolution was much faster. The eruptions became vesicular on the third day after the appearance of the papular stage, and developed into pustules within twenty-four hours.
Smallpox among the Aboriginal populations - source material
The first epidemic - 1789
The old man and the boy then returned to the settlement and were placed under the care of surgeons. Soon after the epidemic was noticed by the Europeans Port Jackson and the surroundings of the settlement appeared deserted by the aboriginal people.
The second epidemic - 1828-32
Brown, who observed the disease firsthand (Mair 1831), noted that it had spread to most of the Aboriginal people he saw. Further evidence of the epidemic spreading along the Murray comes from accounts by Aboriginal survivors.
The third epidemic - 1866-67
The evil power of the Rainbow Serpent Mindye was believed to be the source of the disease in Victoria (Reynolds. Gething had little idea of the mortality caused by the disease and could only explain six to eight deaths.
Discussion
They saw firsthand the effects of the disease on the living and the dead. In the cases of all three smallpox epidemics, there are several unknown factors associated with disease prevalence and mortality.
Conclusion
When using mortality rates to estimate population loss, we must first know or have a reasonable estimate of the number of cases of smallpox infection. While smallpox had only a minor effect on the European population of Australia, the same cannot be said of the Aborigines. The effects of the three epidemics in southeastern Australia caused excessive mortality and morbidity.
Introduction
The controversy about the two diseases began to clear up during the 1830s when the French venereologist Ricord distinguished the developmental stages of the diseases (Arrizabalaga. This was possible because they were located far from the mainstream of the development of medical knowledge in Europe.
Biology of sexually transmitted diseases .1 Syphilis
Gonorrhoea
Infection is usually confined to the epithelial tissues of the urogenital tract, most commonly the urethra in males and the endocervix in females. In such cases, infertility occurs when inflammatory adhesions block the fallopian tubes and block the descent of the eggs and the ascent of the sperm.
Syphilis and gonorrhoea among the European population of Southeast Australia
Heterosexual liaisons began shortly after arrival in Port Jackson, especially among the prisoners (Tench 1793: 39). Within three months of establishing the settlement, the presence of sexually transmitted diseases among the convicts began to worry Phillip and his medical staff.
Syphilis and gonorrhoea among the Aboriginal populations - source material The source material used below is examined in two contexts. Discussed first
At the frontiers
Cussena, who was convinced of a very virulent syphilis epidemic present among the aboriginal people of the colony. The timing of the emergence of sexually transmitted disease in the Kaurna population of the Adelaide Plains is unknown.
Beyond the frontiers
One of these lesions is visible in the right middle region of the frontal bone. A significant part of the investigation involved collections from the upper, middle and lower Murray River.
Conclusions
While the most common introduction of syphilis into Aboriginal communities would have been through sexual contact between European men and Aboriginal women, it spread easily within Aboriginal communities through further sexual relationships. An unusual degree of severity of clinical symptoms was commonly noted among Aboriginal groups compared to its pathogenesis among Europeans.
Introduction
Biology of tuberculosis
Only a fraction (about 5%) of those infected develop the clinical symptoms of the disease (Cotran et al. Consumption' was the most common term used in the nineteenth century and referred to the most common form of the disease, pulmonary tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis among the European population of Southeast Australia
The actual name 'tuberculosis' was introduced during the first half of the nineteenth century to denote a group of symptoms characterized by the presence of tubercles in various body organs. John Easty, a marine private of the First Fleet, recorded several deaths in his personal diary, including cases he believed to be tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis among the Aboriginal populations - source material .1 Early contact and diffusion (Stage II)
Settlement and acculturation (Stage III)
The extent of tuberculosis among Aboriginal people in the latter half of the nineteenth century is best seen in Aboriginal settlement records (Table 5.4 and Figure 5.2). Data are taken from the registers of births, deaths and marriages compiled by each of the settlements in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Clinical Features
20- 8-37 Adult female Adhesion of lung to surrounding membrane and ribs; extensive diffusion of tuberculosis outside and inside both lungs; liver enlarged with small caseous foci; possible meningeal involvement. 29-10-38 Women 60 Adhesion of lung to ribs, sternum and surrounding soft tissue; both lungs extensively hepatized with tubercles outside and inside;
Aboriginal Treatment
Discussion
During the first half of the nineteenth century it was generally believed by the English medical profession that a long sea voyage in the clear. All these were thought by some medical authorities to be factors leading to the cure of the disease.
Conclusion
In the second half of the 19th century, tuberculosis became established and was a leading cause of death among the Aboriginal communities of South East Australia. Adding to the increase in the disease was the rising European population and the increasing incidence of the disease among the European population.
Introduction
An outbreak of what was probably swine flu originating from the Spanish settlement of La Isabela on Santo Domingo in 1493-94 is blamed for the disappearance of the indigenous populations of the Antilles (Guerra 1988: 305). Reports of the outbreak describe an acute infectious disease that was extremely contagious, with a very short incubation period, affecting a large population at once, and with the signs of high fever, prostration and excessive mortality (Guerra 1988:316) .
Biology of influenza and pneumonia
Antigenic drift of the influenza A virus leads to the emergence of new subtypes that cause regular outbreaks of new epidemics and pandemics of influenza. Airborne spread of the virus is the predominant mode of transmission, but the virus can be spread through direct contact, usually with hands or fingers, by droplet transmission.
Influenza and pneumonia in the European population of Southeast Australia In the examination of historical documents, single cases of influenza are often
The most common and the cause of modern epidemics and pandemics is the A virus, which exists in many subtypes or strains that do not usually cause cross-immunity to each other. The spread of the disease often occurs in the winter months and people living in crowded and closed spaces are more susceptible to virus invasion (Beneson Stuart-Harris & Schild.
