2024-03-11 23:30:00
A total of 21 cases of tuberculosis were reported to the Montreal Regional Public Health Department (DRSPM) last January, the first time in five years.
“I believe we are seeing a resurgence of tuberculosis in Montreal; we see several new cases every week,” worries microbiologist-infectious disease specialist Karl Weiss, of the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal.
The 21 cases observed last January are a high for a single month since 2018.
According to Dr. Weiss, people diagnosed at his hospital are often isolated or come from abroad and therefore must be kept under observation. “Most of the tuberculosis patients we see have to be hospitalized and require beds for several days, sometimes several weeks, to avoid community transmission,” he comments to Journal.
Courtesy photo
Heavy trend?
Even if the DRSPM confirms having “recorded several cases of tuberculosis in recent weeks”, it considers that it is still “too early to speak of a confirmed major trend”.
Considered by the World Health Organization as a “global public health emergency” since 1993, this contagious disease is the second leading cause of infectious death after COVID-19 in 2023.
Two-thirds of cases are concentrated in eight countries: India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.
According to Montreal Public Health, very few cases of tuberculosis are acquired in Montreal, and community transmission most often stops within the sick person’s family.
From abroad
“Currently in Montreal, approximately 90% of people affected by the disease were born abroad,” explains Geneviève Paradis, spokesperson for the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS) of Center-Sud-de by email. -Montreal Island.
A notifiable disease caused by a bacteria, Koch’s bacillus, tuberculosis is characterized by a persistent cough which is sometimes accompanied by bleeding and phlegm from the lungs or respiratory tract, chest pain and weakness or fatigue. Untreated, the disease can cause death.
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