Neel J V
Ciba Found Symp. 1977(49):155-68. doi: 10.1002/9780470715406.ch9.
The stereotype of uncontacted tribal populations is that they must reproduce at near capacity to maintain or slightly increase their numbers. This paper argues that the health of minimally contacted Amerindians, as judged by the results of physical examinations and life tables for the Yanomama of Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil, is relatively good, with population control a feature of the Indian culture. It is further argued that the usual deterioration in health with contacts with western culture probably does not result so much from special innate susceptibilities to certain epidemic diseases and to the diets and 'stresses' of civilization as from the epidemiological characteristics of newly contacted peoples.
对于未与外界接触的部落人群，有一种刻板印象认为，他们必须近乎满负荷地生育才能维持或略微增加人口数量。本文认为，根据对委内瑞拉南部和巴西北部的亚诺马米人的身体检查结果和生命表判断，与外界接触极少的美洲印第安人的健康状况相对良好，人口控制是印第安文化的一个特点。本文进一步指出，与西方文化接触后健康状况通常会恶化，这可能并非主要源于对某些流行病以及文明社会的饮食和“压力”有特殊的先天易感性，而是源于新接触人群的流行病学特征。
