Researchers look to wastewater for early TB detection in Iqaluit
If study proves effective, it could be ‘added layer of early detection’ of tuberculosis: NTI
Researchers from across Canada have teamed up for a five-year project in Iqaluit to detect tuberculosis in wastewater. (Photo by David Lochead)
Can early detection of tuberculosis outbreaks happen through monitoring a community’s wastewater? That’s what a group of researchers is trying to find out.
They were in Iqaluit Tuesday afternoon to announce a $3.5-million, five-year study that could improve Nunavut’s tuberculosis screening programs.
“I want to make it clear that the proposed research is not an instant solution to eliminating TB from the territory, even though that is our ultimate goal,” said Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez, the Ottawa-based lead researcher on the study.
Alvarez has researchers from University of Ottawa and University of British Columbia on his team, with collaboration from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that mainly affects the lungs. It spreads through the air when an infected person laughs, coughs or sings. While tuberculosis is easily treatable, it can be fatal without medical intervention.
Researchers plan to test spit, urine, stool and wastewater from patients diagnosed with tuberculosis to see how the bacteria that causes the disease shows up in wastewater.
They will then monitor wastewater from specific places, such as Iqaluit’s men’s shelter and the city’s water treatment plant. The samples will be tested in Ottawa.
The study starts this year and will continue year-round.
It is funded by a $3-million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and $500,000 from NTI.
The research will be done under the guidance of the Taima Tuberculosis Steering Committee, which was established in 2011 by NTI, the Government of Nunavut and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to prevent, detect and treat tuberculosis in Nunavut.
Alvarez said his goal through the study is to gather evidence that wastewater screening is effective for detecting tuberculosis.
If it is, wastewater screening will be “another layer of early detection” for TB that will complement screening programs already in use, including skin tests, sputum tests and chest X-rays, according to a news release from NTI.
Dr. Sean Wachtel, Nunavut’s chief public health officer, pointed out that wastewater detection has helped with early detection of COVID-19 and said he believes this study could be critical to achieving the federal government’s goal of eradicating tuberculosis in Nunavut by 2030.
Tuberculosis rates in the North are about 100 times greater than in the general population. There are ongoing tuberculosis outbreaks in Pangnirtung, Naujaat and Pond Inlet.
“This initiative is quite groundbreaking,” Wachtel said.
We need to do this in Rankin inlet too..
If TB is detected in Iqaluit wastewater, a whole bunch of work would be left ahead of public health officials to find out who exactly is infected, and have them treated.
TB tests in Canada are free, so it is hard to figure out how much these actually could cost here. However, in the US, TB blood tests cost on average $287 US or $388 Canadian.
For $3.5M, 9,020 blood tests could possibly be performed in Iqaluit. Seeing how the population is around or less than 9,000 right now, it seems for the same price as testing wastewater, you could find out exactly who in Iqaluit has TB.
Instead of testing novel ways of figuring out if a community has TB, perhaps it would be better to assume TB is already in Iqaluit (given its proximity to Pang), and start to figure out who has it and treat them.
Tuberculosis is a disease that affects nearly 1/4 of the entire world. (Via both active and latent TB) This research has worldwide implications that can affect the entire globe, not just one rinky dink town on the edge of the ice sheets.
Y’all gotta start thinking further down the road than the next town. Think about the next country. They’re going through some of the same stuff seen up here. Tuberculosis rates in some Asian and African countries can be as high as 80%!
excuse my English…. What about the Public Health staff In Iqaluit that tell alcoholic people that have latent TB that don’t really want to take the meds because that means they will have to lay off the booze or they will have bad side effects
“your lungs look good you don’t need to take the medication”
Buddy has had sleeping TB here in Iqaluit but hasn’t taken any meds to rid it in 5 years he’s had it.
How long before it becomes active TB and spreads?
vety good question (iqaluit) about (budy)
who knows ? very good questions indeed, it stimulate my medical scientific interest and curiosity to Learn more. may you all be safe and god bless. (please never caught in people face) and allways put your arms or at least your hand in front of your mouth when you caught, allways. thanks and take care.
He is really screwing up the well being of Nunavut!!!!!
Say that the wastewater is good to drink… like all the other contaminated water they’ve endorsed
Need I say wear masks in public??