To mark World News Day on September 28, 2022, the World News Day campaign is sharing stories that have had a significant social impact. This particular story, which was shared by The Globe and Mail (Canada), was published on May 27, 2022.
Pangnirtung, a small hamlet on Baffin Island, is grappling with the largest tuberculosis outbreak in Nunavut since 2017, according to data the territorial government released on Thursday after refusing for months to reveal the extent of the disease’s spread.
The Nunavut Department of Health said on Thursday that 139 cases of TB have been identified in Pangnirtung in the past 18 months, 31 of which were active, meaning the patients were sick and infectious. The rest were cases of latent or “sleeping” TB, an asymptomatic version of the bacterial infection that isn’t contagious, but that puts patients at risk of developing active TB in the future.
The Globe and Mail travelled to Pangnirtung as part of a continuing investigation into health care in Canada’s youngest territory. In interviews, community leaders have expressed frustration at the lack of official information about the TB outbreak, which Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public-health officer, first declared on Nov. 25 without providing a tally of cases.
To read the full investigation on The Globe and Mail’s website, please click here.
