Sanikiluaq survives “flu-like” outbreak

(updated March 4, 1:20 p.m.)

Until March 4, many people in Sanikiluaq had no idea what caused a disease outbreak that led to more than 100 residents getting sick earlier this winter.

“What was it? I have no clue,” the hamlet’s SAO Muhammed Hussan told Nunatsiaq News March 2. “I’m just making a ballpark guess that it was flu.”

On March 4, under questioning in the Nunavut legislature by Alan Rumbolt, the MLA for Hudson Bay, health minister Tagak Curley finally revealed that respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and flu had been confirmed among those who had fallen sick.

Curley did not say what kind of flu had affected the population.

The Sanikiluaq outbreak started from Dec. 27 and continued into mid-January.

About 50 medevacs, sometimes two a day for more than 10 days, flew sick young children and elderly people out of the community for medical treatment in Winnipeg.

Indoor holiday games were cancelled as a result, on the recommendation of Nunavut’s health department.

But the nature of the illness that ran through Sanikiluaq was not made public — even to people in the community.

The closest thing to a response to this question first came in a March 1 public health advisory from the Government of Nunavut’s health department, which referred to reports of “influenza-like activity throughout Nunavut. “

The advisory said there are lab confirmed cases of H3N2 and H1N1 influenza, but doesn’t say which strain affected Sanikiluaq. A similar illness is now reported to be surfacing in Arviat.

The advisory only said that each of these types of flu can be prevented by this year’s seasonal flu shot.

This advisory suggested that parents who have a sick and feverish child under the age of two should take the child to a local health centre.

As for adults, the GN’s advice was to stay at home and call the health centre.

You can also protect others by coughing and sneezing into your sleeve and washing your hands with soap and water frequently, the GN said.

That’s advice the hamlet of Sanikiluaq intended to promote, even when no one there knew what illness stuck them, Hussan said.

It’s not the first time the Belcher Islands community has been hit by an epidemic.

In 2003, Sanikiluaq’s health and hamlet officials decided to close the local school and other public buildings in an effort keep residents at home and away from contagion after an infant came down with whooping cough, and many others in the community displayed signs of illness.

And in 2000, Sanikiluaq was also struck by a flu epidemic. Then, Sanikiluaq’s school closed, due to lack of student attendance and fear of contagion.

At the time, doctors from the University of Manitoba’s J.A.Hildes Northern Medical Unit in Winnipeg, who supply health services to Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, were concerned about what they were hearing.

It sounded as if people were coming down with influenza, and their concern was that, in a remote or contained location such as Sanikiluaq, up to 100 per cent of people can be affected — and because full-blown influenza is known to kill, especially the very young and the elderly.

Concerned about the adequate presence of supplies to deal with an epidemic, Alan Rumbolt, MLA for Hudson Bay, asked health minister Tagak Curley Feb. 23 about Sanikiluaq’s readiness for an extreme outbreak of illness.

“I am sure the information that my officials collected was not quite ready today, but I will definitely ensure that the proper response is provided to the member,” Curley promised Rumbolt.