Whooping cough “dwindling,” Nunavut public health official says

Dr. Kim Barker, the Government of Nunavut’s chief medical officer of health, says the number of whooping cough cases in the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut appears to be slowly declining. (FILE PHOTO)

The recent whooping cough outbreak in the Qikiqtani region appears to be “dwindling,” Nunavut’s top public health officer said Aug. 11.

But the number of residents infected with the pertussis bacteria, which causes whooping cough, continues to hold steady at around 70.

“We’re beginning to see things slow down in all of the affected communities, which is great news,” Dr. Kim Barker, the Government of Nunavut’s chief medical officer of health, told Nunatsiaq News Aug. 11.

“Local health centre staff are seeing fewer respiratory symptoms.”

The number of suspected cases stands at 71 — just above the estimate government officials released at the beginning of August.

Hall Beach, with a population of roughly 850, currently has the highest number of suspected cases at 36, Barker said.

“They had quite a bad go of it, which is unfortunate for such a small population.”

But it’s normal to see a “resurgence” in whooping cough cases every five to seven years, Barker said.

The last outbreak in the Baffin region took place in 2009, so more cases this year is not surprising, the doctor said.

A number of infants infected with the bacteria had to be medevaced out of Iqaluit, but they have all now recovered, Barker said.

And, there is some concern that the efficiency of the vaccine — administered in five doses, typically over the first four years of life — has waned.

For that reason Health Canada’s national laboratory in Winnipeg has taken some samples from confirmed cases on Baffin Island for testing.

The other whooping cough cases are located in Iqaluit, with 29 cases, and Pond Inlet, with six cases, she said.

The first cases of the respiratory infection appeared in Pond Inlet in May.

Then health officials confirmed cases of whooping cough in Iqaluit in late June.

The highly contagious lung disease then spread to Hall Beach.

Health officials say early diagnosis and treatment of the bacterial infection, which affects young infants most severely, is important.

Symptoms of whooping cough include:

• a cough followed by a sharp breath that can sound like a “whoop”;

• breathing problems;

• vomiting after coughing; and,

• a fever of over 39 C for three days straight.

If any of these symptoms are present, especially in young children, you should go to the local health centre, where free vaccines are available, health officials said earlier this summer.

Barker said Aug. 11 that a team of six Health Canada nurses plan to wrap up their increased vaccination effort on Baffin Island on Aug. 12.

Those nurses traveled to six Baffin-region communities over the past few weeks to help local health care staff administer more vaccines.

In those communities — Iqaluit, Igloolik, Clyde River, Cape Dorset, Pond Inlet and Pangnirtung — nurses vaccinated at least 1,000 people, Barker said.

“It was a proactive strategy to target communities in the region that hadn’t had any cases yet to see if we could prevent it from spreading. And I think it worked,” Barker said.

With school resuming in the coming weeks for Baffin-region kids, the doctor had a message for parents: “As people get ready to go back to school, it would be terrific if parents could double check with their local health centre to make sure their kids’ vaccinations are up to date.”