New research has found newborn babies in some Nunavut regions have the highest rates of serious lung infections ever recorded in medical literature.
Anna Banerji of the University of Toronto has found more than 40 per cent of infants in the western part of the territory are hospitalized for the affliction.
She says as many as one in 30 babies born in these regions get so sick, they wind up on death's door.
The reasons range from overcrowded housing to poor nutrition.
Banerji says the rate of infection is so high for some areas, it would be cheaper to treat all newborns with a preventative medicine than wait until they get sick.
