A state of emergency has been declared at Constance Lake First Nation following the discovery of an outbreak of the lung infection Blastomycosis (Blast-toe-my-co-sis).
In a Facebook update on Monday night, Chief Ramona Sutherland wouldn’t confirm a total number of diagnoses and denied that there have been 11 people with the illness. She also didn’t confirm any human deaths, only that two dogs have died. She adds that a team of investigators from Timmins has begun testing to look for a cause of the outbreak.
“And it will be four or five days for the results to come back,” she said. “We will push for the return of the results as soon as possible, but you know at times there’s testing that needs to be done and that will take some time.”
Sutherland encourages residents to be vigilant if they start feeling ill.
If you have any symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, chills, fatigue, please go to the hospital and get yourself checked,” she said.
Blastomycosis is caused by a fungus, particularly in moist soil or decomposing wood or leaves.
