Photo: New TB drug regime could drastically reduce treatment time

Lung specialist Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez, second from right, alongside staff from Iqaluit Public Heath and the Ottawa Hospital Tuberculosis program, pass out brochures and information in Iqaluit’s Northmart as part of World TB Day, March 24. Approximately nine million people around the world have been diagnosed with tuberculosis. According to Health Canada, Inuit are 30 times more likely to develop TB in their lifetime compared to the national average. Dr. Alvarez is helming a new drug study in Nunavut, with funding from Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada, that could reduce treatment time for latent TB from nine months to 12 weeks. Read more on Nunatsiaqonline.ca. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)