The Alberta Health Services is reassuring the public that a tuberculosis cluster among the homeless in Fort McMurray is now contained. Physicians have identified 5 individuals in the homeless community who were infected but they agree with health officials that there is no reason for public alarm. An investigation was started last December after a homeless individual was diagnosed with an active strain of TB, and soon four more individuals in the homeless community were identified as having the disease. All of the infected individuals have visited and stayed at the homeless shelters in the area since last December but health officials have not said which shelters were affected. All of the homeless individuals who have been diagnosed with tuberculosis are being monitored and have received medical treatment for their condition.

According to Alberta Health Services North Zone medical officer of health Dr. Mayank Singal discussed the tuberculosis cluster and explained “We are not warning that these shelters are in any ways not doing what they are supposed to be doing. This is a vulnerable population that is often at a higher risk of illness due to compromised immune systems. The general population in Fort McMurray is not at increased risk, even though it is an airborne disease. It’s not easily transmitted. If you’re in a room with someone with active TB, it takes minutes to hours for that transmission to happen, even in a closed space.” To date this year 14 cases of infectious pulmonary tuberculosis disease have been identified in Alberta, and last year there was a total of 66 cases for the entire year.