Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Jul 01/98) - The Keewatin is this year's respiratory syncytial virus capital for the NWT.

Dozens of children across the Keewatin are battling the highly contagious lung infection, at least 40 of whom are so sick they had to be medevaced to Manitoba for treatment in the last couple of weeks.

Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief medical health officer, for the NWT, said that there are one or two RSV outbreaks in the NWT every year. This year, more children in the Kivalliq region came down with respiratory syncytial virus than in any other region. They also contracted it later in the year.

"We typically have the RSV outbreak in April after the Easter break, when a lot of people are coming back from the South, but this year, it came in June," he said.

Corriveau also said that most of these cases were in Arviat, Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet, but maintains there were reports of some in all Keewatin communities.

The virus, he added, is more susceptible to younger children. Many of them have to be placed on a respirator to breath while they are recovering from the illness. So naturally, there would be more incidents in communities where there are large numbers of infants.

"It's very hard to escape RSV because it's so contagious," he said.

Arviat Mayor Peter Kritaqliluk estimated about 50 babies under the age of 18 months who had to be medevaced out of the community for treatment.

Of those 50, some 33 of them had RSV.

"One thing we have to remember is that the birth rate here is highest in the Keewatin and maybe Nunavut," he said.

There have been 50 babies born in Arviat just since January.