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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nort...s-increasing-in-nunavik-communities-1.6897997
Tuberculosis numbers increasing in Nunavik communities
5 communities have outbreaks; 58 cases in total this year
CBC News Posted: Jul 06, 2023 4:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
An annual music festival was postponed due to a tuberculosis outbreak in northern Quebec, as the Nunavik region grapples with a series of outbreaks in several communities.
Salluit's festival was supposed to start June 29, but will now happen in the fall. Salluit resident Ida Saviakjuk said the decision was made to prevent the illness from spreading.
"It will go ahead when people are feeling better," Saviakjuk told CBC in Inuktitut.
Five Nunavik communities are currently dealing with outbreaks of tuberculosis. These latest outbreaks are part of an issue that continues to plague many remote northern communities, fueled by overcrowded housing and poverty.
Though the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services hasn't specified which communities in Nunavik are affected, Yassen Tcholakov, the unit lead for infectious disease, confirmed the number of outbreaks and said they have now logged 58 cases in Nunavik since the start of 2023.
Those numbers include active TB, which is contagious, and latent TB, which can develop into active TB...
Tuberculosis numbers increasing in Nunavik communities
5 communities have outbreaks; 58 cases in total this year
CBC News Posted: Jul 06, 2023 4:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
An annual music festival was postponed due to a tuberculosis outbreak in northern Quebec, as the Nunavik region grapples with a series of outbreaks in several communities.
Salluit's festival was supposed to start June 29, but will now happen in the fall. Salluit resident Ida Saviakjuk said the decision was made to prevent the illness from spreading.
"It will go ahead when people are feeling better," Saviakjuk told CBC in Inuktitut.
Five Nunavik communities are currently dealing with outbreaks of tuberculosis. These latest outbreaks are part of an issue that continues to plague many remote northern communities, fueled by overcrowded housing and poverty.
Though the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services hasn't specified which communities in Nunavik are affected, Yassen Tcholakov, the unit lead for infectious disease, confirmed the number of outbreaks and said they have now logged 58 cases in Nunavik since the start of 2023.
Those numbers include active TB, which is contagious, and latent TB, which can develop into active TB...