Nunavut declares whooping cough outbreak in Sanikiluaq
“I think for all [of] us it should [show] the impact of what could happen with any communicable disease if it gets into the communities”
Here’s a close-up look at the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough or pertussis. An outbreak in Sanikiluaq has prompted the Nunavut government to keep the Hudson Bay community’s daycares closed and issue public health advisories. (File photo)
The Government of Nunavut has declared an outbreak of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in Sanikiluaq.
The government first announced a public health advisory following the discovery of a case of pertussis in the Hudson Bay community on May 28, but has not until now called it an outbreak.
“There’s more cases and we’re aware of transmission … so it’s now an outbreak,” said Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s chief medical officer, during the Government of Nunavut’s news conference on COVID-19 on Monday, June 8.
At the moment, there are fewer than five cases, he said.
“I think for all [of] us it should [show] the impact of what could happen with any communicable disease if it gets into the communities, whether it’s COVID-19 or pertussis,” Patterson said.
Nunavut still has no confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19, he said.
Daycares in Nunavut reopened on June 1 as part of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the territory, but those in Sanikiluaq remain closed due to the whooping cough outbreak.
Whooping cough is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which can cause uncontrollable, violent coughing that often makes it hard to breathe.
Nunavut has been hit by several outbreaks of whooping cough in recent years, with the most recent big outbreak taking place in 2017.
Every year in Canada there are one to three deaths due to whooping cough, mostly in babies under the age of three months who have not been immunized, according to Health Canada.
Vaccinations and antibiotics can work to fight the spread of the whooping cough infection.
You can learn more about whooping cough by reading the pertussis fact sheet available on the Department of Health’s website.
If there’s an outbreak, why is anybody saying something about it through local radio? Not everyone has an access to social media, especially elders.
Seeing that everything and everyone has been locked down, how does outbreaks whooping caught starts? Is it lying dormant somewhere in a community or in a person, waiting for a right condition to be activated? I hope someone has the science handy because I am very curious.
An adult has milder symptoms, just a persistent cough, not be diagnosed and carry it for months. Someone could easily have had pertussis and it not have been noticed until a child happened to become infected.
Now..How diid it there?