Decline of the Tuberculosis Epidemic in Alaska

Abstract

Between 1949 and 1960, three tuberculin surveys have been done among the Eskimo population living in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta of Alaska. The results of tuberculin tests among children less than 3 years of age were utilized to obtain an estimate of the tuberculosis infection rates. In 1949-51, the average annual infection rate was 24.6 percent; in 1957, it was 8.5 percent; and in 1960, it was only 1.1 percent. This dramatic decline appears to have resulted not only from improvements in social and economic conditions but particularly from a vigorous antituberculosis campaign with emphasis on casefinding, isolation, and treatment.