Brazil's Newly Contacted Tribe Already Has the Flu, and It Could Wipe Them Out

It has happened many times before, and it's happening again: Members of a previously uncontacted tribe that recently made contact with the outside world have gotten sick. Now, they've retreated back into the Amazon Rainforest, which is very bad news, as it puts the entire tribe at risk of infection—and possibly death.

Last month, seven members of an unnamed, uncontacted tribe in northwestern Brazil became the first of its kind to interact with the Brazilian government in nearly 20 years after reportedly being driven out of the forest by a traumatic event—perhaps the invasion of their land by illegal loggers in Peru. The tribe had been living in the forest completely uninterrupted and without communication with the world outside of the Amazon Rainforest, which is one of the reasons they're often referred to as "isolated" tribes.

In any case, each of the seven tribe members got the flu, according to FUNAI, the Brazilian agency that deals with indigenous populations. That's what happens when uncontacted tribes are contacted, because its members haven't spent hundreds of years being exposed to the diseases that most people's bodies have become accustomed to.

Studies have suggested that many uncontacted tribes die almost immediately after the outside world meets them. Well, this is how it happens. The ones who make initial contact get sick, and then they spread it through their tribe.

Each of the seven tribe members were treated, according to FUNAI, but they all decided to return to isolation, where other members of their tribe live. This is very bad.

"During the contact made by the Indians, the whole group contracted influenza and received prompt health care at the scene," FUNAI wrote. "However, this situation is worrisome because as they have very little immunity, the flu could have evolved into pneumonia, putting them at risk of death. Moreover, we fear that the contact group, composed of seven individuals, could infect other members of his people to the flu back to the village where they live."

FUNAI plans on staying in the area to vaccinate other tribe members if they happen to approach again, but it's unclear if that will happen. Meanwhile, the original group has returned to their tribe after having been exposed to things the others have never experienced.

Hundreds of indigenous tribes have found natural medicines in the Amazon Rainforest, but those medicines treat diseases that they've seen before—not things like the flu. This could get very ugly, very fast.