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NUNAVUT
Sharing experience and advice on treating and preventing tuberculosis was the focus of a three-day expert panel discussion in Iqaluit late last month.

The Expert Forum on Tuberculosis in Nunavut gathered experts from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Greenland in Iqaluit from Jan. 29 to 31 to talk about the infection.

The territorial government will use the information gathered during the forum to review its tuberculosis (TB) program, said Dr. Maureen Baikie, Nunavut's chief medical officer of health.

"We're getting some advice on some of the new tests that are out there for TB. All of it will be used as we examine our TB program," she said.

Baikie said the government has examined the use of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine. This vaccine had been the national standard until its maker, Sanofi Pasteur, recalled it last year, prompting Canadian health authorities to look for a new vaccine from a different producer. Eventually a supply of vaccine, which had been in use internationally since 1952, was secured from Japan.

She added they are getting lots of good information they will carefully consider.

The forum is not meant to be an annual event. Baikie said the forum was specifically done to get advice. Nunavut has the highest tuberculosis rates in the country with 79 cases diagnosed last year, 74 cases in 2011 and 100 cases in 2010.

Dr. Flemming Stenz of Greenland's National Board of Health, said tuberculosis incidence is very high in his country.

"There is good reason for coming and discussing with Nunavut," he said. "In Nunavut, you are doing something one way and we, perhaps, (are) doing another way but discussing it ... it's very important."

Nunavut started its Taima TB campaign in 2011, a program to educate residents on how to manage and prevent the disease. The territory is still examining the results of the campaign, said Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez, a lung specialist who conducts tuberculosis research in Nunavut.

"It (preliminary results) tells us tuberculosis is certainly still a problem, here, in Iqaluit and in Nunavut. Also, preventive efforts are helpful," he said.

Taima TB now includes youth initiatives. Alvarez said he spent one week in Clyde River and another in Pangnirtung to conduct youth initiatives. Tuberculosis prevention is more than just getting a vaccine, he said.

"TB is just such a complicated disease," said Alvarez. "There is so many people that need to be involved in order to get a handle on it, whether it be doctors, nurses, front-line workers, radiologists, respiratory technicians."

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