Puvalluttuq: An Epidemic of Tuberculosis at Eskimo Point,Northwest Territories

An explosive epidemic of tuberculosis in a small isolated settlement is described. This outbreak, in a population of 329 Eskimos and 16 whites, produced 80 cases of active tuberculosis, involving 55% of all the house-holds. Forty-five of these patients were children under 10 years of age and only five were persons over 30. These patients probably were infected by one highly infectious individual.The contributing causes of poor housing, overcrowding and poor nutrition, coupled with the debilitating effect of recent epidemics of virus diseases, measles, mumps and German measles, are discussed.Since this article was written, a third resurvey in the same year, conducted in November 1963, revealed 11 more cases among the 279 members of the population who underwent radiological examination; all are hospitalized.