High Burden of Staphylococcal Disease in Indigenous Communities

Abstract

Numerous studies in the past 2 decades have recorded an apparently high rate of Staphylococcus aureus infection in socalled indigenous populations in particular, a high rate of infection caused by methicillin-resistant strains of S. aureus (MRSA) [1], Such problems have been documented among Native Americans [2], Pacific Islanders in Hawaii [3], Alaskan Natives [4, 5], aboriginal Canadians (First Nations, Metis, and Inuit) [6, 7], Western Samoans and other Pacific Islanders living in Auckland, New Zealand [8, 9], and Australian Aboriginals [10]. In this context, the concept of indigenous populations stems from the modern histories of the United States, Canada, and Australia. These histories have many parallels, one of which is the displacement and resettlement of indigenous populations that had occupied these countries for the previous tens of thousands of years. These populations became the Fourth World, that is, the Third