Small-scale traditional populations are disappearing. However, the cultural transitions they are experiencing create new natural experimental models that inform us about the effects of modernization and acculturation. Natural experimental models are being further developed in modern, technologically advanced societies where sub-populations and microenvironments are investigated. Natural experiments, then, can be conducted in many cultural settings and provide a framework for investigating normative biology, disease causation and mechanisms of transmission. A fascinating new disease called Viliuisk encephalomyelitis, emerging from a remote area in north-central Siberia, represents our current research focus both in Siberia and in our laboratory here at Binghamton University.
Death can ensue in any of the three phases.
Longer durations up to 25 years have recently been documented. Patients initially show symptoms of severe long-duration fever, headache, chills, vomiting, sleepiness or delirium in the acute phase. In some cases, the course slowly progresses and patients develop clearly defined neurologic symptoms that include a loss of control and weakness of the lower extremities, slow movement and difficulty with speech, coupled with a progressive dementia. Thus, decreased isolation and increased contact with the outside world, coupled with increased freedom of indigenous people to travel from Yakut villages to places like Japan, Korea, China, Alaska and throughout Russia, may eventually lead to increased health risks and emerging disease worldwide. He is president of the International Association of Human Biologists and is an internationally recognized authority on the study of natural experimental models of disease among isolated and modernizing non-Western populations.