Sarah Leo says Nain TB outbreak handled appropriately

The president of the Nunatsiavut government says people in Nain were aware of a tuberculosis outbreak in the town, despite concerns expressed by some residents and the mayor about a perceived lack of public disclosure.

"The people in the community regularly [saw] the plane-loads of people coming out to get their TB tests or whatever," Sarah Leo said.

"It may not have been regionally, provincially, or nationally publicized but it certainly was at a local level and people knew what was going on."

Leo was reacting to a recent CBC News story about how details of the outbreak were communicated to residents of the northern Labrador town.

• CBC INVESTIGATES | Nain TB outbreak began months before public disclosure in wake of media questions

Joe Dicker — the AngajukKaK, or mayor, of Nain — told CBC News that more should have been done to let people in the town know what was happening.

But Leo says Dicker himself was emailed about the TB situation in February, just weeks after health officials were internally describing it as an outbreak.

Leo notes there was a story on local radio and posters in the local clinic.

She says the people who needed treatment were well aware of the situation.

"When you have a community of 1,200 and you're having 200 or 300 people going out for testing, everyone knows what's going on," Leo said.

"You leave it to the medical professionals to say, 'You know what, we have a serious situation here.' And at no point was Labrador-Grenfell Health indicating to us that it was."

Stigma and alarm factors to consider

Health officials told CBC News that the stigma and alarm associated with TB are important factors when deciding how to communicate information about outbreaks.

Leo agrees.

"People were sent away, family members were sent away for years to be treated, and it was considered a dirty disease, so people don't like to admit that they may in some way be associated with TB," Leo said.

"So when you're dealing with something like TB you have to be really careful and you can't have a policy to say, if we hit five cases we have to go announce it to the media, or if we hit 30 cases we have to go announce it to the media. I think we have to be very cautious."

In early October, health officials told CBC News that there have been 23 reported cases of tuberculosis in Nain over the past year — none since August.

The town has a population of 1,185, according to the 2011 census. That equates to one in just over 50 residents diagnosed with TB.