Nunavik public health says region’s TB numbers are stable

Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services’ head offices in Kuujjuaq, where six cases of TB have been reported since the beginning of the year. But health officials say they believe they have stemmed the small outbreak. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ—Nunavik public health care officials say they believe they’ve stemmed a small outbreak of tuberculosis in Nunavik’s largest community.

Late last month, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services warned the public to watch for symptoms after six active cases of TB were reported in Kuujjuaq since the start of 2017.

Those cases were in addition to another 10 reports of TB flagged elsewhere in the region; in Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Salluit and Kangiqsualujjuaq.

A month later, health officials say there have been no new confirmed cases of the infection.

“It was a very small outbreak,” said Dr. Marie Rochette, coordinator of infectious disease prevention at Nunavik’s public health department.

“Only the next few months will tell us if there are more latent cases.”

In latent or sleeping TB the bacteria, which give rise to TB, remain dormant in an individual but can become active at any time.

Rochette said the health centre caught the Kuujjuaq outbreak quickly; once an individual was diagnosed, health officials looked at all the people with which that person had been in close contact.

Of the six cases diagnosed in Kuujjuaq, four were related, Rochette said, meaning they came from the same family or social network.

That’s a typical approach in TN diagnoses—to reach out to those in closest contact with the infected person.

Typically, health care staff only look at contagion in adults because the lungs of children under 10 are usually not developed enough to cough to the degree needed to spread the infection, Rochette said.

The public health department is still keeping a close eye on Salluit, which sustained an outbreak of more than 30 cases of TB in 2015 and 2016.

“Inuit are very vulnerable to this disease,” Rochette said. “It is prevalent in Nunavik and every community has to be aware.”

Public health staff members are currently developing a new communications plan to get their message out more effectively.

Rochette said their goal is to make sure all community organizations are aware of TB and are able to identify its symptoms, including schools and workplaces.

“We are trying to engage the community, to mobilize the local health centre and leaders to be sure that people are aware,” she said.

“We don’t want people to be scared, because it’s not a very contagious disease and there’s good treatment.”

Nunavimmiut diagnosed with TB are sent to one of two health centres in the region, to Kuujjuaq or Puvirnituq, where they are isolated and treated, usually over a two-week period.

In more severe cases, people with TB may have to travel to Montreal for care, although Rochette said that is rare.

But TB can pose a serious health threat if it remains undiagnosed and untreated, particularly among children and seniors.

Nunavimmiut should visit their local health centre if they notice the following symptoms:

• a persistent cough that lasts for two weeks or more;

• fever;

• feeling weak and tired;

• loss of appetite and weight loss;

• sweating at night;

• pain in the chest when breathing; and,

• coughing-up blood.