TB cases on rise in Manitoba

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This article was published 10/03/2010 (6014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The number of Manitobans infected with tuberculosis hit a 25-year high last year, raising alarm among First Nation leaders and medical experts that nothing is being done to address the root cause of the disease.

The latest provincial disease statistics reveal Manitoba recorded 156 TB cases in 2009 — the highest number recorded in a single year since the late 1970s. In the past four years TB cases have jumped by 50 per cent, leaving Manitoba with higher rates of the disease than any other province.

Former provincial TB control director Dr. Earl Hershfield said it’s a trend that shouldn’t exist in Manitoba, since caseloads are falling in virtually every other jurisdiction in North America and Europe. Hershfield said TB is getting worse in Manitoba because the health-care system is not doing enough to prevent new cases and no one has proposed solutions to the overcrowding and poverty that helps TB spread.

Manitoba Health told the Free Press to speak to officials at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority about what’s behind the province-wide increase in TB cases. The WRHA did not respond to the Free Press by press time.

The number of annual TB cases reported in Manitoba hovered around 100 from the late 1980s until 2003 when they began to increase.

"The issue is it should never be that high in Manitoba," said Hershfield, who managed Manitoba’s TB control program until he retired in 2003. "There are more cases, in my view, because in the past few years they haven’t done a good job of finding cases."

TB is an infectious disease that experts say is a byproduct of overcrowded homes, malnutrition and poor overall health. The airborne disease is rampant in many northern Manitoba communities where cramped living quarters help it spread.

A recent Free Press series revealed some Manitoba First Nations have recorded some of the highest rates of TB in the world since the mid-1970s. Some northern Manitoba communities have recorded more than 600 cases of TB per 100,000. By comparison, Canada’s national rate is five cases per 100,000.

Ron Evans, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he’s concerned about the persistent increase in TB and wants to see the provincial and federal governments support initiatives to eliminate the disease. He said isolated First Nations communities hit hard by TB don’t have the resources to do it alone, and need help to address a housing shortage made worse by a growing population.

An analysis of national public health data to be released Wednesday by the Assembly of First Nations and Canada’s national Inuit group says TB infection rates have been getting worse for years, due largely to factors such as poverty and poor housing. The data suggests TB is 185 times more common among Canada’s Inuit, and 31 times worse among all aboriginals than it is among mainstream populations.

"It’s really worrisome because our numbers continue to grow," Evans said. "We should be addressing the root of the problem and (governments) really should be out in front supporting us to get the resources we need to deal with it."

— with files from The Canadian Press

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca