Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...vut-admits-to-large-tb-outbreak-in-hamlet-of/
Morning Update: Nunavut admits to large TB outbreak in hamlet of Pangnirtung
Beatrice Paez
Published Yesterday
Pangnirtung, a small hamlet on Baffin Island, is grappling with the largest tuberculosis outbreak in Nunavut since 2017, according to data the territorial government released on Thursday after refusing for months to reveal the extent of the disease’s spread.
The Nunavut Department of Health said on Thursday that 139 cases of TB have been identified in Pangnirtung in the past 18 months, 31 of which were active, meaning the patients were sick and infectious. The rest were cases of latent or “sleeping” TB, an asymptomatic version of the bacterial infection that isn’t contagious, but that puts patients at risk of developing active TB in the future, reports The Globe’s Kelly Grant.
In interviews, community leaders have expressed frustration at the lack of official information about the TB outbreak, which Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public-health officer, first declared on Nov. 25 without providing a tally of cases...
Morning Update: Nunavut admits to large TB outbreak in hamlet of Pangnirtung
Beatrice Paez
Published Yesterday
Pangnirtung, a small hamlet on Baffin Island, is grappling with the largest tuberculosis outbreak in Nunavut since 2017, according to data the territorial government released on Thursday after refusing for months to reveal the extent of the disease’s spread.
The Nunavut Department of Health said on Thursday that 139 cases of TB have been identified in Pangnirtung in the past 18 months, 31 of which were active, meaning the patients were sick and infectious. The rest were cases of latent or “sleeping” TB, an asymptomatic version of the bacterial infection that isn’t contagious, but that puts patients at risk of developing active TB in the future, reports The Globe’s Kelly Grant.
In interviews, community leaders have expressed frustration at the lack of official information about the TB outbreak, which Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public-health officer, first declared on Nov. 25 without providing a tally of cases...