PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED
PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE TWO-YEAR MEDICAL RESURVEY
OF THE RONGELAP PEOPLE
There has been little illness among the people during the past |
year and they appeared to be in good health and in a good state of
nutrition. An epidemic of chickenpox had occurred during the past
year without complications. Many of the older Rongelap people are
beginning to become more infirm, such as
*, the 100-year old
woman.
» the 78-year old preacher, is getting quite feeble and
_hasgivenuppreaching. Of the Rita controls, 57 of the original 82
were re-examined.
Most of the clinical findings were found to be similar to those
that had been seen in previous examinations and occurred with about
jaa
PYRY AWOLISOd Sk
developed serious diseases during the past year.
No. 46, a TT7-
year old man, developed an apparent cerebral accident about 9 months
ago and was partially paralyzed in the right arm and left leg. He
cannot get around without help, though there is some improvement in
function at present.
The other case was
» & 13-year old boy,
who was hospitalized with acute rheumatic heart disease with congestive
failure in December. He improved on digitalis and salicylates.
Though he is apparently fully active at present, there is evidence of
pronounced mitral disease and some degree of cardiomegaly, but with
no evidence of decompensation.
No. 77, the leper, continues
to show active, indolent ulcers on the soles of his feet.
He presents
a real problem in psychological adjustment since he is ostracized by
his people and leads a lonely existence.
14
NOHWO3NOS
ON X08
1 -~K*CZz
wIACTOs
the same degree of frequency in the controls as in the Rongelap people.
A few additional findings, not believed to be ntw diseases, were noted
which probably had been overlooked before. Two Rongelap people had
None of the clinical entities noted in the Rongelap people appear
to be related in any way to radiation effectsItis afifficult or
SG impossible to say whether any of the increased aging might be due to
t
radiation effect. Fertility certainly was not affected in view of
\ the number of new babies and increase in pregnancies.
In both control and Rongelap children, impetigenous lesions
remain quite common.
Fifteen Rongelap people continue to show
recognizable residual radiation skin lesions, but all lesions showed
i
fy
some degree of improvement on this examination. Areas of hyperpigmentation, particularly on the back of the necks, showed less
hyperpigmentation and in some cases pigment had returned to normal.
The dusky color noted earlier was not apparent at this time. All
deeper lesions which had shown depigmentation now showed some degree
of repigmentation. The foot lesions showing most residual changes
were in
\
(No. 25),
(No. 26) and_
(No. 76).
These
lesions showed depigmentation, atrophy of the skin and some degree of
adherence to subcutaneous tissues. The ear lesion in
(No. 79)
continues to show scarring, atrophy and in one place adherence of the
skin to the underlying cartilage.
In none of these cases, was there
ENCLOSURE 1
1182303
PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVEN
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