Pages 683-684 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):683-684
Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON,
Canada
Source
Pages 683-684 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):683-684
Circumpolar populations have long endured the debilitating effects of endemic and epidemic infectious diseases, which have had a major impact on social and economic development. Because infectious diseases are a global threat, their prevention and control is aided by international
collaboration, and global surveillance is a critical component of this effort. The International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) project was established in 1998 to create an infectious disease surveillance network throughout
the Arctic regions. ICS allows for the collection,
comparison and sharing of uniform laboratory and
epidemiological data on several infectious diseases and assists in developing prevention and control strategies. From the early 1900s to today, the high burden of tuberculosis (TB) in some arctic regions, including Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland, has been well-documented. Despite the progress in TB treatment and surveillance, TB outbreaks
continue to occur in these areas. High TB rates in northern populations are partly attributable to risk factors such as persistent poverty and crowded living conditions, as well as to the reactivation of latent TB infection, which is commonly misdiagnosed as other respiratory ailments
prevailing within the population. Improved screening and the development and continued maintenance of robust surveillance systems are essential to control TB.