Yellowknife (May 31/04) - A Colville Lake elder diagnosed with tuberculosis is expected to make a full recovery, but the Northwest Territories chief medical officer says more cases may be found.

"I wouldn't be surprised to discover four or five more people that might require treatment," said Dr. Andre Corriveau.

TB rates are five to 10 times higher in the NWT than the rest of Canada. The TB germ can be in your body for years before it causes infection. A chest x-ray and sputum tests should be done if you are infected with TB, or had a positive skin test and have not completed medical treatment for it. TB symptoms include a chronic cough and weight loss. During the summer of 2000, a Fort McPherson woman died of the disease after being misdiagnosed in a hospital in Inuvik, prompting an inquiry into TB prevention and training in the NWT. -- Compiled with information from the GNWT Department of Health and Social Services

Forty-eight of Colville Lake's approximately 125 residents were flown to Inuvik and back last weekend, for X-rays and skin tests after a man in his 70s tested positive for the disease.

The man is being treated in Edmonton and is expected to return home next week.

About a third of Northern aboriginals over 40 years of age may harbour the dormant tuberculosis germ, Dr. Corriveau said.

"We have a large number of individuals living in the NWT who may be harbouring the TB bacteria from infections they may have had as children that were improperly treated," he said. Tuberculosis may turn active when the immune system is weak or nutrition is poor -- even 20 or 30 years after the first infection, Dr. Corriveau said.

Three people have been quarantined in hospital as a safety precaution and one has been asked to stay home, said Wanda White, a communicable disease consultant with the Department of Health and Social Services.

Colville Lake residents seemed happy with how the government handled the case.

"There was no thought of cost or anything. Overall, everybody was treated pretty good. They handled it pretty professionally." said Alvin Orlias, a Colville Lake band councillor. "A couple of people were concerned about having to wear a mask on the plane, but I didn't see no problem with it. That's just women wanting to be beautiful, I guess."

Two go back

Two people have been flown back to Inuvik for further testing while 10 others will be given preventive medicine, White said.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya said he is concerned by the lack of health care professionals in Colville Lake.

"We don't have a regular nurse in Colville Lake. If we do, they only visit for three hours a month," Yakeleya said. "There's no proper tracking of TB cases like this."

The government is operating on an emergency basis when dealing with tuberculosis, Yakeleya said.

This is the fourth case of tuberculosis in the territories this year with about eight cases diagnosed in an average year, Dr, Corriveau said.

Proper treatment increases the survival rate significantly.

"Unless the disease is missed and goes to a very advanced stage it's 100 per cent treatable," Dr. Corriveau said.

Patients properly treated for tuberculosis are not at risk to develop the disease in the future, he said.

But southern doctors and nurses almost never see a case of tuberculosis, so many professionals have had to be retrained when they come to work in the North, Dr. Corriveau said.

The cost of flying the residents to Inuvik is likely to be between $20,000 to $30,000, said Dr. Corriveau, though exact numbers were not available.

The Health and Social Services department will be monitoring the community over the next nine months to help ensure the disease does not return, Dr. Corriveau said.