One Confirmed Case of TB in Nain
The TB-stricken North coast community of Nain, NL is finally going to be getting an X-Ray machine.
Labrador-Grenfell Health and the Nunatsiavut Government’s Department of Health and Social Development (DHSD) held a community meeting last Friday, April 6, 2018 to brief Nain residents on the latest news about the current Tuberculosis (TB) crisis.
The meeting took place from about 1 to 3 pm at the Jeremias Sillett Community Centre in Nain.
The key principles in attendance were Dr. Gabe Woollam and Dr. Delphine Grynszpan of Labrador-Grenfell Health and Sylvia Doody, Director of Health Services for DHSD.
According to Dr. Woollam, a mobile x-ray machine is on its way to Nain.
The machine is being brought in as a result of the latest TB crisis in the isolated Nunatsiavut community.
There is no definite timeline for the x-ray machine to be operational, since it will have to be connected and tested.
Due to potential bandwidth issues, it’s not known at this time if the full-resolution x-ray images will be able to be uploaded, or of high enough quality to use.
Dr. Woolam also informed the fairly large gathering that there are two workers from the Public Health Lab in Winnipeg in town looking at the possibility of bringing in a GeneXpert machine as well.
The machine would allow doctors to test sputum from residents in the community immediately, without having to send samples to a lab in Winnipeg to be tested, a process that currently takes eight weeks.
In addition, Dr. Woolam said that there is now a new treatment being used on latent, or sleeping, TB patients in Labrador.
The treatment, called 3HP, is a combination of a new drug, Rifapentine, and INH, a common medication for TB.
Dr. Woolam revealed that over 430 people in Nain have been screened for TB so far during the latest crisis.
Of those, there has been one confirmed case of TB, five probable cases, and seven possible cases of the disease.
To hear an updated version of the TB meeting last Friday in Nain, including interviews with Dr. Woolam, Dr. Grynszpan, concerned Nain residents, and NG President Johannes Lampe, click HERE.