Indigenous people of Alaska, Canada, Denmark and Russia live in Arctic regions. Although most prefer to be called Inuit, some still prefer Eskimo. A traditional Inuit diet consists of seafood, fish, birds and mammals living in the area. Much of the meat is cooked, but some is eaten frozen and raw. Close contact with killed wildlife and sledding dogs exposes the Inuit to parasites contained in such animals.
History
Historically, Inuit people were hunters and gatherers, living on what they could obtain from the land. Their high-protein high-fat diet served their culture well, with heart disease and diabetes nearly nonexistent, although an increased parasitic risk existed from ingestion of raw meat. Seal, bear and fish, common Inuit foods, often contain parasites. Recently, westernized eating habits have invaded even the most northern Inuit villages, increasing heart disease while decreasing parasitic risk.
Roundworms
Parasitic worms present in Arctic populations include roundworms and tapeworms. In the most northern regions of Canada, the Inuit population has 10 times the incidence of roundworm infections than all of Canada. Inuit roundworm infection is related to the consumption of walrus and polar bear. This Arctic roundworm is named Trichinella nativa, which can survive freezing to infect its host. After 11 Inuit outbreaks of trichinellosis related to walrus meat, hunters have begun to volunteer to send samples of walrus meat to regional laboratories for testing before they eat it.
Tapeworms
Fish tapeworm and echinococcosis infections occur in many of the Arctic regions. These tapeworms infect the Inuit when they consume parasitic cysts in raw meat or when they ingest tapeworm eggs on contaminated food. Echinococcosis tapeworms infect Inuit who migrate with herds of reindeer and elk, and the fish tapeworm is endemic to Alaskan Inuit who consume raw fish. Alveolar echinococcosis, a highly fatal tapeworm infection, has been found in the Inuit living on St. Lawrence Island of Alaska.
Protozoa
Protozoa, single-celled microscopic animals, infect Inuit who eat caribou and seal. Sixty percent of the Inuit in Canadian Nunavik have antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii, which means they have been exposed to the parasite. Also, giardia and cryptosporidium can be found in the ringed and bearded seals of the Nunavik region. Uncooked and dried meat transfers the infection to the Inuit.
Dog Parasites
Since the Inuit and their sled dogs usually eat the same diet and live in close proximity, monitoring the dogs for parasitic infections can be an indicator of Inuit infections. Tapeworms and roundworms in parasite-contaminated meat infect the dogs in the same way as they infect the Inuit. Additionally, fecal contamination from crowded living conditions can spread the parasites from the dogs to the Inuit. As the dogs get replaced by snowmobiles, the transmission of parasites from the dogs to the Inuit will decrease.
References
- Discover Magazine: The Inuit Paradox
- The Canadian Encyclopedia: Inuit
- Neglected Tropical Diseases: Neglected Infections of Poverty Among the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic
- Journal of Wildlife Diseases: New Distribution Records of Echinococcus multilocularis in the Brown Lemming from Barrow, Alaska, USA
- Journal of Parasitology: Giardia Duodenalis and Crytosporidium Spp. in the Intestinal Contents of Ringed Seals and Bearded Seals in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada
