N.W.T. community with TB outbreak safe to visit: official
An outbreak of tuberculosis in Déline, N.W.T., has some in the remote community worried about the disease's possible spread during the holiday travel season, but health officials say travel is still safe right now.
Five tuberculosis infections in Déline were confirmed on Monday, as health investigators travelled to the community to figure out how the outbreak started and how best to stop it.
"As this investigation ensues, we are still looking for potential cases in the community. So that's why we're referring to it as an outbreak," said Cheryl Case, a communicable disease specialist with the territorial Health Department.
In Déline, a community of 700 located about 540 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, local arena manager Roddy Modeste told CBC News some residents are nervous about the outbreak getting bigger as people flock to the community for upcoming events and gatherings.
"It's a little bit scary," Modeste said Monday. "There's a handgame tournament coming up, plus a lot of people are coming here."
In addition to the five confirmed cases, health officials have also identified 11 carriers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, in the community.
Symptoms important
Case said carrying the bacteria in itself is not dangerous or infectious, unless it develops into full-blown tuberculosis.
To that end, Case said, watching for symptoms of full-blown TB is critical. They include persistent coughing, night sweats, chest pains and even coughing up blood in more severe cases.
As for travel, Case said, people in Déline have been doing a great job of helping health-care workers manage the outbreak, so travel to and from the community should still be fine.
"There's very low risk of the average traveller, travelling into Déline or travelling out of there, that they would actually contract this disease," she said.
Although health officials are saying they're not certain they've identified every tuberculosis case, Case said, all the cases have been systematically identified to date.
Once TB or the germ that causes it is identified, it is treatable. Left untreated, Case said, TB can be fatal.