Tuberculosis cases rising in Montreal and other regions of Quebec

Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan explains how tuberculosis has seen a rise in Montreal and Quebec in recent years and how access to treatment remains an issue.

Quebec has been seeing a rise in the number of people with tuberculosis (TB) over the past year, especially in Montreal.

Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan, a respirologist and the director of TB Clinical Services at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), noted a sharp increase. In 2024, Montreal saw the TB rate jump 54 per cent, compared to the average for the 13 years prior, according to Khan.

“That’s not a fluctuation,” he said. “That’s a reversal of progress.”

The Quebec Health Ministry says the number of cases in the province has been between 200 and 280 for the past three decades.

That is no longer the case.

“In 2025, the number of reported cases remained high (516 cases and an incidence rate of 5.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants),” ministry spokesperson Marie-Pierre Blier said.

“By comparison, the number of cases was 467 in 2024, with an incidence rate of 5.28 per 100,000 inhabitants. These years are above the average number of cases for the pre-pandemic years 2015 to 2019 (254 cases with an incidence rate of 3.06 per 100,000 inhabitants).”

In 2025, there were 516 cases reported in Quebec, with Montreal (210 cases) and Nunavik (117 cases) accounting for the highest rates.

Cases were reported in 11 other regions.

The ministry said it’s closely monitoring areas where infection rates are higher.

“For example, in the Nunavik region, the spread of tuberculosis remains a concern and the situation is being monitored in close collaboration with the Nunavik RRSSS (health and social services),” said Blier.

She added that a provincial and local working group is addressing the situation by identifying all aspects of the crisis and follow-up measures. The ministry is continually monitoring the situation and working with the federal government and territories to develop a national strategy.

In Montreal, most cases since 2015 were found in people born outside of Canada (around 90 per cent) and the disease was contracted outside the country.

The Health Ministry says that the homeless, those living in a detention centre and those living under the same roof as a person with the disease have an increased risk of catching the disease.

Long treatment

TB is an infectious disease caused by the microbe Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It can develop quickly following the first contact with this microbe. It can also appear several years later.

According to Khan, someone needs to breathe a droplet of water that contains the bacteria to contract the disease. He says it takes several hours of breathing in air with TB to get sick.

“For some people, it can establish its presence in our bodies, and that can lead to us becoming sick and having symptoms of TB, and then through coughing, putting it back into the air where other people may breathe it and themselves become sick,” said Khan.

But, he added, the disease is not that contagious and “there’s no need to have a huge panic about TB.”

Symptoms include a weeks-long cough, fever, significant fatigue, decreased appetite, night sweats and weight loss.

The disease is treated with several medicines over several months, and most people heal when they take their meds as prescribed, according to the ministry.

Khan said, however, that TB can leave its mark in patients by scarring the lungs or affecting someone’s heart and blood vessels, leaving them shorter of breath doing daily activities.

“Those kinds of effects can last a lifetime,” he said.

Khan said the presence and increase of TB reflect structural issues about how the disease is prevented and detected.

“Underfunded TB care puts everyone at risk, not just those groups who are the most vulnerable. Universal access to TB care — covering all costs for people who are at risk of TB or who have TB — is much cheaper than dealing with outbreaks, dealing with people hospitalized with TB and emergency responses,” he said.

In Quebec, it is mandatory to seek treatment if diagnosed. However, Khan would like to see Quebec increase funding to cover tuberculosis care for people who don’t have insurance.

“Montreal is really where global tuberculosis meets local realities,” he said. “It does touch upon issues of migration and housing insecurity and gaps in access to care.”

Khan added that because the disease is contagious, it’s an issue that concerns all Quebecers.