Case of tuberculosis diagnosed in Blacks Harbour

BLACKS HARBOUR – A staff member at a True North Seafood processing plant in Blacks Harbour tested positive for active tuberculosis (TB) after feeling ill and isolating at home for two weeks.

In an emailed statement, Joel Richardson, vice-president of public relations for Cooke Inc., which owns True North, said New Brunswick Public Health notified the company that one of its employees had tested positive for TB.

“Just before the holidays, we were notified by Public Health that an absent employee from our Blacks Harbour fish processing plant was confirmed to have active tuberculosis,” said Richardson’s statement.

Following the discovery, Public Health undertook testing of all other staff members at the plant who must be found clear of infection before returning to work.

“We’ve had 100 per cent participation in symptom screening and testing from our caring employees and we thank them for that,” Richardson continued.

Contact tracing from the ill employee determined that the risk to the wider community was low and that broader public disclosure was not needed.

Results of the plant-wide testing were expected later in the week. In follow up remarks, Richardson said that if any additional active TB cases are found, Public Health will notify the company with the affected employee’s permission.

TB is a legally reportable disease in all provinces and territories in Canada. That means that if testing shows an active TB infection, Public Health in the province or territory must be notified.

The Courier attempted to seek information from Public Health in New Brunswick and received no information that could not be found on the government’s TB fact sheet or the department’s website.

While rare, New Brunswick does see a few cases of TB each year. It is a respiratory infection that spreads between individuals from prolonged close contact and inhalation of airborne aerosols emitted from coughing, sneezing and talking.

According to the New Brunswick government fact sheet on TB, “you cannot get infected simply by shaking hands, sharing food, drinks or dishes, touching bed linens or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes or kissing.”

TB is caused by a bacteria – Mycobacterium tuberculosis – not a virus. This is an important distinction between TB and infections such as influenza, the common cold, or COVID, which are all viruses. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, while viral infections cannot.

Symptoms of TB include loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, fever and night sweats. More serious symptoms can include coughing for more than three weeks, coughing up blood or mucous, chest pain or difficulty breathing, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

There are two types of TB infection, active and latent.

In a latent TB infection, the person has been exposed and the bacteria is present in the body, however the person’s immune system is successfully keeping the disease under control. TB can remain dormant for a person’s entire lifetime. Most people with latent TB will never develop active disease. The World Health Organization estimates 10 per cent of people who are infected will become ill. Chances are higher in those with compromised immune systems.

Infection is classed as active when a person becomes symptomatic and can spread the infection to others. This can be from a latent case that becomes active or a case that develops within as little as a few weeks after exposure and infection.

Initial diagnosis for both latent and active TB is a skin test. If the skin test is positive, and a person is symptomatic, further testing such as chest X-rays and saliva tests can be done. In the instance of a non-symptomatic positive skin test, further immune system testing can be done to determine a latent TB infection.

Treatment is a cocktail of two to four antibiotics over a period of, typically, four to six months but treatment can last up to a year. Persons infected with a drug-resistant strain may need to undergo treatment for significantly longer periods of time.

robertfisher@stcroixcourier.ca

Robert Fisher

Fisher is a writer/author, photographer and filmmaker. Itinerant observer of life. His dog, Lincoln, is a travel companion and has been coast-to-coast with him four times.