TB outbreak persists in N.W.T. community

The remote community of Déline, N.W.T., continues to battle a tuberculosis outbreak, with two more cases confirmed in the past month.

A total of six TB infections have been confirmed so far this year in Déline, a community of about 700 people on the southwestern shore of Great Bear Lake.

Tuberculosis is a contagious airborne respiratory disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis germ.

The current outbreak started shortly before the holidays in 2009. Since then, N.W.T. health officials have been screening the entire community for the disease.

To date, 90 per cent of the population has been screened, said Cheryl Case, a communicable disease specialist with the Health Department.

"That gives us, I think a lot of assurance that this outbreak investigation has been very successful," Case told CBC News on Wednesday.

"It certainly should give the people in Déline a lot of assurance that TB is well [on] its way to being controlled in that community."

Case added that health workers are going door-to-door in Déline, making sure people are getting screened.

The ongoing screening efforts in Déline will continue for the time being, she said.