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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It's been five years since a tuberculosis outbreak tore through Yellowknife's homeless community.

The Salvation Army feels better prepared to avoid a repeat after installing an air filtration system at its shelter after the last outbreak.

"After the tuberculosis outbreak a few years ago, we purchased air filtration units," said Stacey Van Metre, community case worker at the Salvation Army.

"It cut down anything airborne. I think it helped this last case because it contained it and no one else got sick."

The 2007 outbreak originated at the Yellowknife Salvation Army shelter after a homeless man infected 12 individuals who were also staying there. In order to not have a repeat of that outbreak, the three Microcon air filters were purchased and safeguards such as sleeping head to toe, cough monitoring of clients by staff, and precise record keeping were implemented to stop the disease from spreading.

Van Metre spoke about a recent case of TB that was dealt with quickly by the shelter and the public health authority due to good record keeping and being vigilant about finding the individual, making sure he was tested and treated immediately.

"I think it was due to the quickness of Public Health and our working relationship with them," said Van Metre.

The shelter can house up to 60 people with as many as 12 people per room. Van Metre estimates between 80 to 90 per cent of clients who come to the shelter are from smaller communities.

As reported by Yellowknifer in 2007, the NWT has a TB rate five to 10 times higher than elsewhere in Canada.

"Many of them have been cured along the way but there's still a fair number that live with that latent TB infection that have never been treated," said Cheryl Case, a communicable disease specialist with the Department of Health and Social Services.

"We have to back up to that phase of the disease and treat and cure everyone with latent TB infection before we can really state proudly that we have eliminated TB in the Northwest Territories."

In 2010, 11 new cases were reported in the NWT, seven of which were among residents in Deline.

TB is an airborne pathogen that attacks the lungs and is spread through coughing. Carriers of the disease usually show symptoms within two years of contracting the illness. Symptoms include a bad cough, fever, night sweats and chills.

Fact file

Tuberculosis facts

The Dene population had the majority of TB infections in NWT from 1992-2004

There were 9.4 million new TB cases globally in 2009

TB is among the three greatest causes of death among women aged 15-44

Since 1995, 41 million people have been successfully treated for TB

Source: World Health Organization and GNWT Department of Health and Social Services

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