Six months after an outbreak was reported in the Baffin Island community, 31 people have been identified with active tuberculosis and 108 have been diagnosed with latent tuberculosis.
Announcing the Pangnirtung outbreak in November, public health director Dr. Michael Patterson said the statement was caused by a growing number of TB patients in the community of about 1,600 who could not be linked to cases. previously known.
Tuberculosis is a treatable disease and people with symptoms are asked to have a check-up at the health center.
Symptoms include a cough lasting more than three weeks, feeling very tired, loss of appetite and fever or night sweats.
Latent tuberculosis can also be treated to prevent it from becoming active.
Nunavut does not normally report community-based TB cases, believing that the stigma surrounding the disease persists.
Earlier this year, the territory’s privacy commissioner said more transparency was needed around the disease, including the sharing of statistics showing which demographic groups are affected by the disease.
Tuberculosis has been a scourge in Nunavut for decades.
Expectations were high when the federal government announced in 2018 that it would eliminate tuberculosis in Inuit communities by 2030.
Two years later, tuberculosis rates had barely changed and project funding had run out.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further delayed efforts to eradicate the disease.