This paper was motivated by questioning the economic benefit of
preventative measures against tuberculosis. To gauge these benefits,
the financial burden of treating the disease must be understood. The
costs of tuberculosis care in Canada are discussed by Menzies in a
report for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).3 The average
cost per active case in Canada is $ 47,290 (2004 dollars). Excluding
expenditures such as research funding, the cost of treating an active
case is $ 19,906, while latent TB costs $ 845 per case. Half of patients
are hospitalised, costing nearly a thousand dollars per day. The drugs
used to treat active TB range in cost from CDN $ 500 to CDN $ 1000 dollars,
but rare cases of multiply resistant TB require drugs costing over
CDN $ 50,000 dollars. However, costs in the northern territories were
much higher than the national average, due to the higher incidences
and wide geographic dispersion. Many northern communities lack
medical facilities and staff, and suspected TB patients and their families
must be flown to a hospital. Nunavik has similar human geography
as Nunavut, with the population distributed between several small villages,
only one with a hospital. Rates are similar between Nunavik and
Nunavut. While the cost of treatment in Quebec is $ 35,000 per TB case,
it is over twice as high in Nunavut. Due to their similarities, the cost
per case may be similarly high in Nunavik although it was not explicitly
reported. The increased rate of tuberculosis among the Inuit in
Quebec may present an economic burden if not checked.