Disease Attacks Primitive Tribe

As many as one-fifth of Brazil’s beleaguered Yanomami Indians have a disease which causes severe itching and in the worst cases could cause blindness, a physician said Saturday.

Dr. Luiz Renerys Pinheiro, a specialist in the disease, onchocerciasis, said up to 2,000 of the 9,200 Yanomami - considered the most primitive of more than 60 Indian tribes in Brazil - have it.

Another 14,000 Yanomani live in Venezuela.