Via CBC News: Tuberculosis rate among Inuit is 290 times higher than for non-Indigenous people in Canada. Here's why. Excerpt:
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says there were 1,796 active cases diagnosed in this country in 2017, up 2.6 per cent from 2016, when there were 1,750 active cases.
The average annual rate of TB infection is 290 times higher among Inuit in Canada than among Canadian-born non-Indigenous people, PHAC says.
In actual numbers, there were 1,684 cases diagnosed in all of southern Canada in 2017. There were 112 in the three far less populated territories, including 101 in Nunavut alone.
According to data from PHAC, the average rate of infection in Canada's 10 provinces in 2017 was 4.46 per 100,000 people.
In Nunavut, it was 265.8. Inuit make up about 85 per cent of Nunavut's population, according to PHAC.
The World Health Organization says the rate of infection in the world's poorer nations is between 150 and 400, so Nunavut falls squarely in that range.
Why are people in the North more vulnerable?
There are several factors that contribute to the much higher rates of infection in the North.
"Many Inuit people live in overcrowded homes that are poorly ventilated ... they're very airtight," said Banerji, who has researched respiratory infections in babies in Canada's Arctic for many years. "Also, there is quite a bit of poverty, which can make tuberculosis worse. Malnutrition can exacerbate tuberculosis."
Poor access to health care, or issues of not feeling safe going to an outpost nursing centre or a hospital, can also be factors.
And there is another possible factor Banerji believes needs further study.
She says Inuit babies have the highest rate of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the world. Banerji says Nunavik, the northernmost region of Quebec, provides the RSV antibody to all babies, but the government of Nunavut does not; it provides the antibody to babies considered high-risk.
She wonders if there is a connection between high RSV rates and TB.
"It's just to say that a lot of respiratory disease is over-represented in Inuit populations," she said. "Babies or people who have scarring or damage to the lungs probably are more susceptible to active tuberculosis."
