Canada's 2022-2023 national influenza epidemic was declared in epidemiological week 43 (week ending October 29, 2022), relatively early in comparison to historical seasons. This year marks the return ...to pre-pandemic-like influenza circulation, following the brief and delayed influenza epidemic declared in the spring of the 2021-2022 season. To date this season, 59,459 detections of influenza have been reported out of 456,536 tests; both values exceeding historical averages. This epidemic is being fundamentally driven by influenza A, with influenza A(H3N2) accounting for 94% of subtyped detections. This season to date has had a significant impact on adolescents and young children, with a high proportion of detections occurring in those aged 0-19 years (42%). Provinces and territories have reported higher than usual influenza-associated hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and deaths in comparison with previous seasons; in particular, paediatric hospitalization incidence was persistently far above historical peak levels for several weeks. The return of seasonal influenza circulation highlights the importance of sustained vigilance with regard to influenza and employment of available mitigation measures, especially of annual seasonal influenza vaccination.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rapid surge of literature on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the wider impacts of the pandemic. Research on COVID-19 ...has been produced at an unprecedented rate, and the ability to stay on top of the most relevant evidence is top priority for clinicians, researchers, public health professionals and policymakers. This article presents a knowledge synthesis methodology developed and used by the Public Health Agency of Canada for managing and maintaining a literature surveillance system to identify, characterize, categorize and disseminate COVID-19 evidence daily.
The Daily Scan of COVID-19 Literature project comprised a systematic process involving four main steps: literature search; screening for relevance; classification and summarization of studies; and disseminating a daily report.
As of the end of March 2022 there were approximately 300,000 COVID-19 and pandemic-related citations in the COVID-19 database, of which 50%-60% were primary research. Each day, a report of all new COVID-19 citations, literature highlights and a link to the updated database was generated and sent to a mailing list of over 200 recipients including federal, provincial and local public health agencies and academic institutions.
This central repository of COVID-19 literature was maintained in real time to aid in accelerated evidence synthesis activities and support evidence-based decision-making during the pandemic response in Canada. This systematic process can be applied to future rapidly evolving public health topics that require the continuous evaluation and dissemination of evidence.
The phenomenon of desinformation has escalated with the advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in recent years, manifesting and spreading much faster and easier than before. ...The effects of desinformation are felt in a variety of issues affecting diverse groups of citizens within society, obstructing access to accurate information and undermining democratic values. This issue is considered a matter of public interest, prompting many countries worldwide to make efforts to combat or eradicate it. One of the main dangers lies in the fact that while the media creates an authentic public space, it also contributes to the formation of a false public sphere that diminishes the essential role of the media in shaping and strengthening public discourse.Addressing the diverse types of misinformation while safeguarding fundamental rights and freedoms poses a significant challenge for democracy and European standards. There are serious concerns regarding government surveillance and control over online content, coupled with the use of extensive surveillance methods and data collection under the pretext of national security and the fight against terrorist threats, which could serve as justification for state censorship.
During the period of monkeypox community transmission and restricted vaccine supply in the summer of 2022, Canadian provinces and territories and a number of vaccine stakeholders indicated the need ...for consistent national guidance on pre-exposure vaccination (including the identification of priority populations for pre-exposure vaccination programs) and guidance on the potential use of dose-sparing strategies.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) High Consequence Infectious Disease Working Group reviewed data on the status of the monkeypox outbreak along with additional published and non-published evidence regarding the safety, immunogenicity and protection offered by Imvamune
. NACI approved updated recommendations on September 16, 2022, and on September 23, 2022 it released updated interim guidance on the use of Imvamune in the context of the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.
During periods of adequate vaccine supply, NACI recommended that Imvamune pre-exposure vaccination should be offered as a two-dose primary series, with at least 28 days between the two sub-cutaneous doses. When supply is limited, guidance was provided for the use of dose sparing strategies, including extended dosing intervals and fractional intradermal dosing to maximize vaccine coverage for those at highest risk of exposure to the monkeypox virus.
The updated NACI recommendations provide additional guidance on the use of Imvamune for the management of the 2022 monkeypox outbreak in Canada and may be considered to maximize vaccine coverage in outbreak settings when supply is limited.
The Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme is a passive surveillance system that has monitored antimicrobial resistance in
in Canada since the 1980s. This article summarizes the ...demographics, antimicrobial resistances and NG-MAST (
multiantigen sequence typing) for cultures collected in 2020.
The National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg received resistant
cultures from provincial and territorial public health laboratories. Agar dilution was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations to ten antimicrobials for all cultures received at NML, according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The NG-MAST typing was also determined for each culture.
A total of 3,130
cases were cultured across Canada in 2020; a 36% decrease from 2019 (n=4,859). The level of decreased susceptibility to cefixime increased significantly between 2016 and 2020 to 2.8% (
=0.0054). Decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone declined significantly between 2016 (1.8%) and 2020 to 0.9% (
=0.001), and there was no significant change with azithromycin between 2016 (7.2%) and 2020 (6.1%). The proportion of cultures with an azithromycin minimum inhibitory concentrations of ≥1 mg/L increased significantly from 11.6% in 2016 to 15.3% in 2020 (
=0.0017). The most common NG-MAST type in Canada for 2020 was sequence type (ST)-11461, while ST-12302 was most commonly associated with azithromycin resistance and ST-16639 with cephalosporin decreased susceptibility.
Antimicrobial resistance in
remains an important public health concern and continued surveillance is imperative to monitor trends to ensure the recommended therapies will be the most effective.
The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. The EU-funded PRO-RES Project aimed to produce a guidance framework that helps to deliver Responsible Research and ...Innovation (RRI). PRO-RES is a Horizon 2020 project coordinated by the European Science Foundation (ESF), involving 14 different partners across Europe. As one of a series of open access products of the Project, Ethical Issues in Covert, Security and Surveillance Research will be placed in the hands of policymakers and their advisors to offer practical and efficient ways to respond to the issues addressed. Understanding that the problem of covert research and surveillance research for security purposes have proven highly challenging for all research ethics appraisal services, the chapters here are valuable resources for expert reviewers, helping further the discussion of these complex ethical issues, and raising the standards applied to the process. Delivering an applied approach, and influencing where it counts, this volume showcases that it is only when the integrity of research is carefully pursued can users of the evidence produced be assured of its value and its ethical credentials.
La durée de vie des extrêmes prématurés non réanimés est de courte durée. Ces enfants sont rarement douloureux, aucun geste technique n’est nécessaire et tout l’accent doit être mis sur leur confort. ...La mère est la mieux placée pour prodiguer chaleur et confort à son enfant mais se sent parfois incapable de rencontrer ce si petit bébé né si tôt. Le pédiatre et la sage-femme vont l’aider à franchir les étapes successives qui peuvent l’amener avec le père à valoriser ces instants de vie pour en faire des moments inoubliables qui les aideront ensuite à traverser la période de deuil.
Canadian seasonal influenza circulation had been suppressed since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This suppression was reported globally and generated concern that ...the return of community influenza circulation could be intense and that co-circulation of influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was possible and potentially severe. Community circulation of influenza returned to Canada during the 2021-2022 influenza season. The influenza epidemic began in week 16 (mid-April 2022) and lasted only nine weeks. This epidemic was driven by influenza A(H3N2) and was exceptionally late in the season, low in intensity and short in length. Community co-circulation of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 was observed in Canada for the first time during the 2021-2022 seasonal influenza epidemic. The unusual characteristics of the 2021-2022 influenza epidemic suggest that a breadth of factors moderate transmission dynamics of the two viruses. Concerns of an intense seasonal influenza epidemic did not come to fruition during the 2021-2022 season; therefore, high influenza susceptibility remains, as does predisposition to larger influenza epidemics. Ongoing circulation of SARS-CoV-2 creates uncertainty about dynamics of future influenza epidemics, but influenza vaccination remains a key public health intervention available to protect Canadians. Public health authorities need to remain vigilant, maintain surveillance and continue to plan for both heightened seasonal influenza circulation and for the potential for endemic co-circulation of influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
