GC» Congenital anomalies.
The incidence of congenital anomalies
is believed to be higher than found in Americans.
The increase may be due
to the fact that these people have been tiving in a relatively isolated area
for some 2000 years with prevalent consanguinous matings.
d. Laboratory findings of interest.
EBosinophilia is prevalent.
As pointed out about half of the
people have greater than 5% eosinophiles in their differential counts.
An
intestinal parasite survey at the 4 year study revealed stools positive for
various parasites in about 80 to 85% of the people.
However, hookworm was
the only parasite noted which is generally associated with eosinophilis, but
the incidence was too low (about 2% of the people} to account for the gener- |
ally high eosinephile counts,
responsible.
Another possibility is that the incidence of trichinosis ine
festation may be high.
the island.)
The prevalence of skin diseases may be partly |
(Pigs are used for meat and rats are numerous on
This will be a subject of further study.
The low incidence
of bookworm would not account for the low hematocrit readings.
In fact,
there was no correlation in individvuais between hematocrit, parasite infes=
tation or eosinophilia.
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The tendency toward low hematocrits may be related
to nutritional deficiency of iron or proteins but there is no good evidence
that these factors are involved.
These people generally show hich total serum protein levels (mean
of 8 g) with increased gamma globulin (mean of 2.4 g).
The explanation for
these findings is not immediately apparent.
An unexpected finding is a generally hich protein bound iodine
value (mean value for the population of 9.4 wg/100 mi.)
The explanation
for this is not apparent, particularly in view of the fact that the people
do not clinically appear to be hyperthyroid.
Serum cholesterols and creati«
nine levels were found to be within normal limits.
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