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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 2 : Health

Tuberculosis took a devastating toll in many Aboriginal communities prior to World War II. Its incidence has dropped steadily and dramatically to the current national First Nations rate of about 5 cases per 10,000. However, this is still about seven times the non-Aboriginal rate. This is partly attributed to crowded housing and inadequate sewage control on some reserves, and partly to the historically high tuberculosis rates which means many older people still carry the bacteria in their bodies. “As carriers, they are subject to reinfection and if not treated immediately may infect those around them.” A Tuberculosis Elimination Plan established by Health Canada in 1995 seeks to reduce First Nations Tuberculosis rates to less than 1 per 100,000 by the year 2010.²⁰

In recent years, the decline in the rate of new and reactivated cases among First Nations people has slowed and, in Manitoba, may have even reversed. For example, an outbreak in 1993-94 in a Winnipeg homeless shelter pushed rates up sharply from the low point reached in 1990-92.²¹

Outbreaks of tuberculosis continue to occur in clusters in northern First Nations, such as the dozen cases in isolated Gods Lake Narrows in 1998. There were no cases the following year. Ten per cent of Manitoba cases in 1998 were found in children 14 and under.²²