L6
posed groups»eempared with that for the Mar-
During the interval between the 1959 and 1960
surveys the medical history of the people on Rongelap Island was generally uneventful. However,
an epidemic of influenza occurred in the Marshall
shall Islands asawhole in 1948-50 and for the
United States in 1940. The table also shows the
median ages. The lower median age of the Marshallese would seem to support the impression that
their life span is shorter than that in the continental United States.
Islands in the spring of 1960, and, though Ronge-
lap Atoll was spared. the epidemic reachedserious
proportions on Kwajalein Atoll. About 20 of the
During the interval between the survevs of 1958
anc? 1939 the people of Rongelap suffered no
major epidemics. There were the usual bouts of
unexposed Rongelap control population had previously moved to Kwajalein Atoll for employment
by the Navy, and among this group 10 cases of
pox developed in April 1958. two of great severity,
plicated by pneumonia resulting in death - one in
man (31) from the exposed group. During the
a 33-year-old man (+933) and the other in a 64year-old man (=927). Both these men had com-
treatment, and also the following cases: perforated
fered a cerebral hemorrhage with hemiplegia several months earlier, and the other a urinary tract
upper respiratory infections. A few cases of chicken
influenza developed, two of which became com-
one of which resulted in the death of a 36-vear-old
complicated deliverv; pyelonephritis, and acute
diarrhea. Three of these patients were in the exposed group. Fourcases of fish poisoning occurred
during the year with the usual symptomsof nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, double vision, and
tingling sensations in the limbs. Cancer of the
ovary was found in a 61-vear-old woman in the
exposed group, and the diagnosis was confirmed
by biopsy.
infection, The 61-year-old woman with cancerof
the ovary, discovered in 1958, died in May 1959.
Untortunately, no autopsies were obtained on
these people. This brings the deaths to four for
the exposed population. One other death occurred
in the unexposed control population on Rongelap,
that of a 54-year-old woman (854) who died of
infection complicating diabetes. The deaths in the
unexposed population now number four. Only
one case of fish poisoning occurred in 1959 on
Table 3
Yearly Incidence of Births and Fetal Deaths*
Year
Women aged
14-45
Total
pregnancies
Children
—_Mf
F
Live
births
Miscarriages*
% Pregnancies
terminating in
miscarriage
Exposed
1954**
19
}
1955
1956
195?
20
20
FI
5
6
3
1958
22
1959
22
Total
1956
1957
1958
1959
Total
18
18
ta
17
0
0)
0
I
100
5
43
3
4
2
4
)
2
I
4
0
i4
8
3
+
3
0
37
24
12
12
13
4
2
2
|
1
25
17
6
.
5
8
8
+
6
26
|
5
2
Unexposed
=
i
6,
6 *
5
2
3
3
2
|
l
4
20
10
10
*Includes children dying during first few hours after birth.
**Includes only children conceived after March 1, 1954.
1
2
3
17
33
60
0
25
25
1
mee,
appendix, threatened abortion, retained placenta,
plicating diseases prior to influenza; one had suf-
A
AR nag| ~ ow
year Navy evacuation planes removed these two
cases to Kwajalein Hospital (150 miles away) for