Introduction: Tuberculosis in Canada 2012

Introduction

The federal Health Portfolio works to address tuberculosis (TB) in Canada. The Health Portfolio includes the Public Health Agency of Canada (the “Agency”), Health Canada, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. It works in partnership to address TB with provincial and territorial governments and other federal departments and agencies. Specifically, the Agency provides national leadership related to public health aspects of tuberculosis and works collaboratively with domestic and international partners to address TB prevention and control.

One of the Agency’s key responsibilities is monitoring active TB disease through a national surveillance system, which is a collaborative effort with the provincial and territorial ministries of health. The Agency uses TB surveillance data and reports to monitor progress towards achieving Canada’s goal of preventing and controlling the transmission of TB, as outlined in Tuberculosis Prevention and Control in Canada - A Federal Framework for Action.^{Footnote 1}

Tuberculosis is currently legally reportable in all provinces and territories. The Government of Canada initiated the collection of statistics on reported cases of TB in Canada in 1924 and the first report on TB morbidity was published in 1937 by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. In 1994, responsibility for the collection of statistics on reported cases of TB was transferred from Statistics Canada to Health Canada. In September 2004, the Agency assumed responsibility for the collection of these data along with the production and publication of surveillance reports. The Agency currently stores data on TB cases reported for the years 1970 through to 2012. The collection of treatment outcome data began in 1997.

The format and content of surveillance reports are revised on an ongoing basis to adapt and improve in response to changes in the epidemiology of TB. Unlike previous iterations of Tuberculosis in Canada, which have presented data for a single reporting year, this report presents data for a three-year period: 2010 to 2012.

This report provides an historic overview of TB trends in Canada from 2002 to 2012, followed by a comprehensive review of the overall number of reported active TB cases and corresponding incidence rates in Canada for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. While it presents new data, it also updates data previously published in the annual abbreviated Tuberculosis in Canada - Pre-release^{Footnote i} reports and previously published annual reports. This type of comprehensive surveillance report will be published every three years. An overview of drug resistance in Canada is available in the annual report Tuberculosis: Drug resistance in Canada.^{Footnote 2}