Northern Saskatchewan Part Of U. of S. T.B. Study

Northern Saskatchewan Part Of U. of S. T.B. Study

Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 14:49

A University of Saskatchewan research project is underway to determine how tuberculosis is spread across the Prairies and what can be done to stop its spread.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band member Kathleen McCallum is one of the researchers assigned to carry out a survey in northern Saskatchewan.

She notes 90 per cent of T.B. cases in the province between 2002 and 2006 happened within the Aboriginal population — and 43 per cent of those instances were recorded on reserves.

McCallum says much of the mainstream population thinks tuberculosis is a condition of the past and don’t realize how prevalent it is in the country.

She says her first job in the research is to contact as many local residents as possible.

However, McCallum points out that tuberculosis is a condition many Aboriginal people are fearful of discussing, due to the way patients were treated in the past.