Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/98789_nunavut_suffers_worst_year_ever_for_tb/

NEWS: Nunavut December 09, 2010 - 5:15 pm
Nunavut suffers worst year ever for TB
Tuberculosis rate is 60 times higher than the Canadian average
GABRIEL ZARATE


With the end of 2010 only weeks away, this year has been the worst year for tuberculosis in Nunavut since the territory?s creation in 1999...As of Dec. 7, Nunavut medical staff had diagnosed 99 cases of active TB since the start of the year, shattering the previous record of 58, which was set in 2008...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/tb-once-again-stalking-the-arctic/article1834983/


Outbreak
TB once again stalking the Arctic
PATRICK WHITE
From Monday's Globe and Mail

Six decades ago, a malady known as consumption stormed across the Arctic, snuffing hundreds of lives, tearing apart thousands of families, and seeding a deep distrust in a bungling public health-care system.

Now, the pernicious disease written so indelibly upon Inuit history and psychology is making an unwelcome return to the North. This week, Nunavut recorded its 98th case of tuberculosis in 2010, the most logged in the territory?s 11-year history.

The increase is particularly stark compared with the rest of the country: Nunavut?s infection rate is now 62 times the national average, adding to the territory?s standing as one of the world?s worst places for respiratory health...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...nquer-tb-dont-just-control-it/article1836273/


Globe editorial
Conquer TB, don?t just control it
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 8:00PM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 9:38PM EST

The eradication of tuberculosis from aboriginal communities, especially Nunavut, is something Canada can accomplish if it puts its mind to it. It isn?t as if we?re talking about wiping out AIDs from Africa. Nunavut is a territory of 32,614 people. TB is curable with antibiotics...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/17/nunavut-tuberculosis.html

Nunavut TB infections break record
Last Updated: Friday, December 17, 2010 | 12:01 PM ET
CBC News

Nunavut's top Inuit and health officials say tuberculosis is the most pressing health issue in the territory, where a record number of people have been diagnosed with the disease this year.

One hundred people in Nunavut have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis so far this year, almost doubling the previous record of 58 cases in 2008.

Nunavut's tuberculosis rate is now about 62 times the national average.

"This shouldn't be happening in Canada, anywhere in Canada," said Natan Obed, director of social and cultural development with Inuit land-claim group Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

"We really should be able to treat this and turn the corner on this disease, but we do need help..."

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2011/02/14/nunavut-tb-cmaj.html

Nunavut's TB outbreak a national problem: CMAJ
Last Updated: Monday, February 14, 2011 | 11:34 AM CST
The Canadian Press

Last year's outbreak of tuberculosis in Nunavut, the worst ever since the region became a territory, is a problem for the whole country, not just the North, says an editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

One of the editorial's authors calls the spread of a disease virtually unknown in the south an international embarrassment.

"We are a rich, developed nation that has the resources to solve the problem in Nunavut if we choose to employ them," says Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, a respirologist at Toronto Western Hospital.

"The fact that we have failed to do so, not just once but over a century, should be an embarrassment to every Canadian."

The editorial reports that Nunavut suffered 100 new and active cases of tuberculosis in 2010. That's the highest number in the territory's 10-year history and represents an infection rate 62 times the Canadian average.
'Not just Nunavut's problem'

Worse, most of the new cases occurred in younger patients, suggesting the disease is being actively spread.

"Nothing will change without the federal and territorial governments coming together with Nunavut communities to address the current outbreak," says the editorial.

"This is not just Nunavut's problem ? it is Canada's problem..."

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Nunavut (Canada) suffers worst year ever for tuberculosis

For comparison, Alaska did have the highest US TB rate in 2001 - mostly in the native population. However, a concerted effort has improved that situation - now we'r the 3rd highest US rate. Note in the 2009 article referenced below that some cite the high incidence of "latent" B in elders becoming active as the cause.
_________________________________________________________________
(from 2009)
Alaska ranks third in US for rate of TB
DISEASE: Alaska natives account for 65 percent of cases.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2009/12/03/1040262/alaska-ranks-third-in-us-for-rate.html#ixzz1Dxt7kOSO


Alaska continued to have one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the country last year, with 50 new cases for a rate of 7.4 cases per 100,000 people, the state reported this week.


The national average in 2008 was 4.2 cases per 100,000. Only Hawaii and the District of Columbia had higher rates than Alaska.

Alaska Natives, widely infected in the first half of the 20th century, are still suffering disproportionately from TB today, said Dr. Beth Funk, the state's tuberculosis control officer.

Between 1999 and 2008, 65 percent of the Alaska TB cases occurred in Alaska Natives.

There were 601 cases altogether reported to the state over those 10 years. Three-hundred eighty-eight of them were Alaska Natives.

"The (Native) people who were children in the 1950s pretty much all became infected with tuberculosis," said Funk. "Now there are elders in the state who have had tuberculosis germs lying dormant in their bodies." As people age, dormant TB germs tend to get active, she said.

Rates among children are also higher in Alaska than elsewhere.

Geographically, Northern and Southwest Alaska typically have the highest rates, Funk said. Last year, Southwest had the highest rate with 43.5 cases per 100,000, nearly six times greater than the rate of the state as a whole. Most of the 17 Southwest Alaska cases were in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages.

Asians and Pacific Islanders, primarily Filipinos, are also infected at higher rates than others in Alaska. They make up 21 percent of the cases from 1999 to 2008.

Anchorage had an outbreak among homeless people in 2006 that caused a spike in the state's TB rate for that year, but Anchorage's homeless are not showing the same level of disease now, said Funk. "It's a lot better."

To beat back the outbreak, Anchorage health officials tested people at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and put those who were sick on medicine to cure them.

It takes six to nine months to complete treatment, Funk said.

Tuberculosis is spread by coughing, though not everyone with TB is infectious. Those who are repeatedly exposed to someone with active TB are most likely to catch it.

Alaska's tuberculosis rate was the same in 2007 and 2008, but over 10 years shows a downward trend, Funk said.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2009/12/03/1040262/alaska-ranks-third-in-us-for-rate.html#ixzz1DxtcdDNE