Environmental Health Surveillance: A Critical Function of Public Health Laboratories

Environmental Health Surveillance is a critical function of public health laboratories, where monitoring water quality trends helps create information to be used for health promotion, disease mitigation, resource planning, risk analyses and other decision making

Environmental Health Surveillance: A Critical Function of Public Health Laboratories

The objectives of this environmental health surveillance system were to provide a robust system for monitoring of water quality trends, and information to be used for mitigation of potential health problems, resource planning, risk analyses and decision making

Use of an Innovative Web-Based Laboratory Surveillance Platform to Analyze Mixed Infections Between Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) and Other Respiratory Viruses Circulating in Alberta (AB), Canada (2009–2012)

We investigated the proportions of mono vs. mixed infections for human metapneumovirus (hMPV) as compared to adenovirus (ADV), four types of coronavirus (CRV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), RSV, and enterovirus/rhinovirus (ERV) in Alberta, Canada. Using the Data Integration for Alberta Laboratories (DIAL) platform, 26,226 respiratory specimens at ProvLab between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2012 were selected and included in the study. Using the Respiratory Virus Panel these specimens tested positive for one or more respiratory virus and negative for influenza A and B. From our subset hMPV was the fourth most common virus (n=2,561) with 373 (15%) identified as mixed infection using DIAL. Mixed infection with hMPV was most commonly found in infants less than 6 months old and ERV was most commonly found in mixed infection with hMPV (230/373, 56%) across all age groups. The proportion of mixed-infection vs. mono-infection was highest for ADV (46%), followed by CRV 229E (32%), CRV HKU1 (31%), CRV NL63 (28%), CRV OC43 (23%), PIV (20%), RSV (17%), hMPV (15%) and ERV (13%). hMPV was significantly more likely to be identified in mono infection as compared with ADV, CRV, PIV, and RSV with the exception of ERV [p < 0.05]

Dominance of two genotypes of Bordetella pertussis during a period of increased pertussis activity in Alberta, Canada: January to August 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to undertake an epidemiological analysis of an increase in Bordetella pertussis activity during the period January 1 to August 31, 2012 in Alberta, Canada. B. pertussis testing was done using an IS481 real-time PCR assay with PCR-positive and indeterminate specimens cultured and stored for further analysis. Methods: Laboratory data were linked to Alberta Health (AH) cases that were reported in the Communicable Disease Reporting System (CDRS) to identify case isolates; exclusion criteria were used to avoid biases. Case isolates were analyzed at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Pertussis immunization data were extracted from the Alberta Provincial Immunization Repository (Imm/ARI) and linked to the pertussis cases. Results: Using PFGE and MLST, 52 case isolates could be divided into two main sequence type groups: 41 cases belonged to the ST-1 group (ST-1 and the novel ST-19) and 11 cases belonged to the ST-2 group (ST-2 and the novel ST-20). Of the total cases genotyped (N = 52), 18 (34.6%) had a history of immunization, 28 (53.8%) were not immunized, and six (11.6%) had an unknown immunization history. Of the total non-immunized cases, 25/28 (89.2%) belonged to the ST-1 group. Furthermore, of the 41 ST-1 group cases, 25 were not immunized compared to only three of the ST-2 group cases (p = 0.0004, Fisher's exact test). Conclusions: This study shows the dominance of two genotypes of B. pertussis in our jurisdiction and indicates less pertussis immunization in individuals infected with the ST-1 group

Bordetella pertussis in sporadic and outbreak settings in Alberta, Canada, July 2004 – December 2012

Article deposited according to publisher policies: http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/copyright, June 12, 2014YesFunding provided by the Open Access Authors Fund

Epidemiology of pertussis in Alberta, Canada 2004–2015

Abstract Background We describe the epidemiology of pertussis in Alberta, Canada by person, place, and time between 2004 and 2015, identify outbreak years, and examine vaccination coverage and vaccination timeliness. Methods We used health data from Alberta’s Communicable Disease Registry System for the period of January 1, 2004 through August 31, 2015 to identify unique cases of pertussis. Unique cases were deterministically linked to data in Alberta’s immunization repository and health care insurance plan registry. Population estimates and vaccination coverage were extracted from Alberta’s online Interactive Health Data Application. We estimated pertussis incidence rates per 100,000 persons by year, age group, gender, and health zone. Outbreak years were identified using a one-sided cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis by comparing annual incidence rates to baseline rates. Results Over the period, 3510 cases of pertussis were confirmed by laboratory testing or epidemiological linkage. Incidence rates per 100,000 persons were highest in 2004 (20.5), 2005 (13.6), and 2015 (10.4) for all age groups. Incidence rates were highest among the youngest age groups and decreased as age groups increased. Based on CUSUM analysis, 2008 and 2012 met the criteria for outbreak years. Vaccination coverage was over 90% among the general population, however only 61% of cases received at least one dose. About 60% of cases were diagnosed 5+ years after receiving the vaccine. Approximately 87–91% of vaccinated cases did not receive the first three vaccine doses in a timely manner. Conclusion Pertussis incidence rates fluctuated over the period across all age groups. The majority of cases had no record of vaccination or were delayed in receiving vaccines. CUSUM analysis was an effective method for identifying outbreaks