Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada最新文献

{"title":"Integration of hospital with congregate care homes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.","authors":"Christina K Chan, Mercedes Magaz, Victoria R Williams, Julie Wong, Monica Klein-Nouri, Sid Feldman, Jaclyn O'Brien, Natasha Salt, Andrew E Simor, Jocelyn Charles, Brian M Wong, Steve Shadowitz, Karen Fleming, Adrienne K Chan, Jerome A Leis","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the need to improve the safety of the environments where we care for older adults in Canada. After providing assistance during the first wave, many Ontario hospitals formally partnered with local congregate care homes in a \"hub and spoke\" model during second pandemic wave onward. The objective of this article is to describe the implementation and longitudinal outcomes of residents in one hub and spoke model composed of a hospital partnered with 18 congregate care homes including four long-term care and 14 retirement or other congregate care homes.</p><p><strong>Intervention: </strong>Homes were provided continuous seven-day per week access to hospital support, including infection prevention and control (IPAC), testing, vaccine delivery and clinical support as needed. Any COVID-19 exposure or transmission triggered a same-day meeting to implement initial control measures. A minimum of weekly on-site visits occurred for long-term care homes and biweekly for other congregate care homes, with up to daily on-site presence during outbreaks.</p><p><strong>Outcomes: </strong>Case detection among residents increased following implementation in context of increased testing, then decreased post-immunization until the Omicron wave when it peaked. After adjusting for the correlation within homes, COVID-related mortality decreased following implementation (OR=0.51, 95% CI, 0.30-0.88; <i>p</i>=0.01). In secondary analysis, homes without pre-existing IPAC programs had higher baseline COVID-related mortality rate (OR=19.19, 95% CI, 4.66-79.02; <i>p</i><0.001) and saw a larger overall decrease during implementation (3.76% to 0.37%-0.98%) as compared to homes with pre-existing IPAC programs (0.21% to 0.57%-0.90%).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The outcomes for older adults residing in congregate care homes improved steadily throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. While this finding is multifactorial, integration with a local hospital partner supported key interventions known to protect residents.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"67-75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715829/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Utility of the Peterborough Public Health COVID-19 rapid antigen test self-report tool: Implications for COVID-19 surveillance.","authors":"Erin Smith, Carolyn Pigeau, Jamal Ahmadian-Yazdi, Mohamed Kharbouch, Jane Hoffmeyer, Thomas Piggott","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated novel testing strategies, including the use of rapid antigen tests (RATs). The widespread distribution of RATs to the public prompted Peterborough Public Health to launch a pilot RAT self-report tool to assess its utility in COVID-19 surveillance. The objective of this study is to investigate the utility of RAT using correlations between RAT self-report results and other indicators of COVID-19.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We investigated the association between RAT results, PCR test results and wastewater levels of nmN1N2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genes (to infer COVID-19 levels) using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Percent positivity and count of positive tests for RATs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The PCR percent positivity and wastewater were weakly correlated (r=0.33, <i>p</i>=0.022), as were RAT percent positivity and wastewater nmN1N2 levels (r=0.33, <i>p</i>=0.002). The RAT percent positivity and PCR percent positivity were not significantly correlated (r=-0.035, <i>p</i>=0.75). Count of positive RATs and count of positive PCR tests were moderately correlated (r=0.59, <i>p</i><0.001). Wastewater nmN1N2 levels were not significantly correlated with either count of positive RATs (r=0.019, <i>p=</i>0.864) or count of positive PCR tests (r=0.004, <i>p</i>=0.971).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our results support the use of RAT self-reporting as a low-cost simple adjunctive COVID-19 surveillance tool, and suggest that its utility is greatest when considering an absolute count of positive RATs rather than percent positivity due to reporting bias towards positive tests. These results can help inform COVID-19 surveillance strategies of local public health units and encourage the use of a RAT self-report tool.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"44-49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715811/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Event-based surveillance: Providing early warning for communicable disease threats.","authors":"Tenzin Norzin, Homeira Ghiasbeglou, Marcia Patricio, Svetlana Romanova, Abdelhamid Zaghlool, Florence Tanguay, Linlu Zhao","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic served as a compelling modern-day reminder of the value of early warning against communicable disease threats in public health. As countries exit the acute phase of the pandemic, there remains a continued need to be vigilant for potential communicable disease threats, particularly as the risk of animal-to-human spillover events is increasing due to climate and land use change. Early warning of emerging threats facilitates earlier public health response, which affords more time to implement public health measures that can help minimize the impact of a particular health threat and protect the health and well-being of the population. One approach to providing early warning for communicable disease and other threats is through event-based surveillance (EBS). However, EBS is not often discussed in the context of public health surveillance. This overview introduces EBS and how it might contribute to providing early warning for communicable disease threats.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 1","pages":"29-34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10712973/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quality over quantity in active tick surveillance: Sentinel surveillance outperforms risk-based surveillance for tracking tick-borne disease emergence in southern Canada.","authors":"Camille Guillot, Catherine Bouchard, Kayla Buhler, Roxane Pelletier, François Milord, Patrick Leighton","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Lyme disease (LD) emerged in southern Québec at the start of the century, with many municipalities now endemic. A coordinated active surveillance programme has been in place in the province of Québec since 2014, including a limited number of sentinel field sites resampled each year and a larger set of accessory field sites that change yearly according to the LD surveillance signal. We aimed to evaluate whether a sentinel approach to active surveillance was more representative of LD risk to human populations, compared to risk-based surveillance.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We compared enzootic hazard measures (average nymph densities) from sentinel and accessory sites with LD risk (number of human LD cases) across the study area between 2015 and 2019 using local bivariate Moran's I analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Hazard measures from sentinel sites captured spatial risk significantly better than data from accessory sites (χ²=20.473, <i>p</i><0.001). In addition, sentinel sites successfully tracked the interannual trend in LD case numbers, whereas accessory sites showed no association despite the larger sample size.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Where surveillance aims to document changes in tick-borne disease risk over time and space, we suggest that repeated sampling of carefully selected field sites may be most effective, while risk-based surveillance may be more usefully applied to confirm the presence of emerging disease risk in a specific region of interest or to identify suitable sites for long-term monitoring as LD and other tick-borne diseases continue to emerge.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"50-58"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715827/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Community-based COVID-19 outbreak of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant of concern in Newfoundland, February to March 2021.","authors":"Alexandra Nunn, Andrea Morrissey, Ashley Crocker, Kaitlin Patterson, Joanne Stares, Kerri Smith, Laura Gilbert, Krista Wilkinson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>From March 2020 to January 2021, Newfoundland and Labrador experienced 408 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases (incidence 78 per 100,000). In February and March 2021, a community outbreak of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant occurred in the Eastern Regional Health Authority. This article describes the epidemiology of this variant of concern outbreak, identifies settings that likely contributed to spread and informs recommendations for public health measures (PHMs).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Provincial surveillance data were linked with case interview data and a school class roster. Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to characterize the outbreak. Secondary attack rates (SAR) were calculated for households and classrooms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This outbreak involved 577 laboratory-confirmed and 38 probable cases. Whole genome sequencing determined cases were B.1.1.7. The median age was 31 years and the highest proportion of cases were in the 15 to 19-year age group (29%); 293 (51%) were female and 140 (24%) were asymptomatic upon identification. Early cases were linked to a high school, sports activities, a restaurant and social gatherings. As the outbreak progressed, cases were associated with household transmission, a daycare, healthcare settings and a workplace. The unadjusted SAR estimate among laboratory-confirmed cases was 24.4% for households and 19.3% for classroom exposures. When adjusted for other potential exposures, SAR estimates were 19.9% for households and 11.3% for classrooms.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This outbreak demonstrated how B.1.1.7 spread rapidly through a community with previously low COVID-19 transmission and few preventative PHMs in place. Implementation and compliance with school and community-based PHMs is critical for preventing transmission during outbreaks.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"59-66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715830/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Treatment of severe human mpox virus infection with tecovirimat: A case series.","authors":"Koray K Demir, Michaël Desjardins, Claude Fortin, Simon Grandjean-Lapierre, Arpita Chakravarti, François Coutlée, Gerasimos Zaharatos, Jean Morin, Cécile Tremblay, Jean Longtin","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Tecovirimat (TCV, TPOXX^®) is an orthopox-specific antiviral drug indicated for the treatment of smallpox. There is also a mechanistic basis for its use in mpox infection. However, its approval was based on animal studies, and its efficacy and side-effect profile in human patients with disease is unknown.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>During the 2022 international mpox epidemic, clinicians in Canada accessed TCV from the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Emergency Strategic Stockpile for severe cases of mpox disease. We describe the use of TCV in nine adults with severe mpox virus infection in Montréal, Canada.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Five patients were treated for severe and potentially life-threatening head and neck symptoms, while four were treated for genitourinary or anorectal disease. Two-thirds of patients were also treated for suspected bacterial superinfection. All patients recovered (median time to resolution of severe symptoms: nine days) without relapse or hospital readmission. No patients reported adverse events attributable to TCV and no patients stopped their treatment early.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our experience suggests that TCV is well tolerated and may accelerate recovery in severe cases. These preliminary, observational data may also be explained by concomitant treatment for superinfection and are limited by the absence of a control group. Controlled, clinical trials should be conducted to clarify the attributable benefit of TCV in severe mpox infection.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"76-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715828/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Summary of the NACI Statement on Public Health Level Recommendations on the Use of Pneumococcal Vaccines in Adults, Including the Use of 15-valent and 20-valent Conjugate Vaccines.","authors":"Aleksandra Wierzbowski, Robert Pless, Kyla J Hildebrand","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Age and certain medical/social conditions are risk factors for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). For prevention of IPD, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has recommended the 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine, PNEU-P-23, for adults 65 years of age and older and adults over 18 years of age living with certain underlying conditions. NACI has also recommended 13-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine, PNEU-C-13, for adults; however, in publicly funded programs, this recommendation is limited to individuals with risk factors for IPD. Two new conjugate vaccines, PNEU-C-15 and PNEU-C-20, have been authorized by Health Canada for prevention of IPD in adults. This article summarizes NACI public health recommendations for pneumococcal vaccines in adults given these new conjugate vaccines that provide additional serotype coverage over PNEU-C-13.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Key studies evaluating the immunogenicity and safety of PNEU-C-15 and PNEU-C-20 were reviewed. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations framework methodology was used to assess the certainty of evidence.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The PNEU-C-15 and PNEU-C-20 vaccines showed comparable immune responses, and safety profiles for all mild, moderate, and severe adverse events, to the currently used vaccines. No data were available on the efficacy or effectiveness of PNEU-C-15 or PNEU-C-20. Economic evidence and feasibility assessments supported the use of the PNEU-C-20 vaccine.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>NACI recommends PNEU-C-20 for adults 65 years of age and older, 50-64 years of age and living with factors placing them at higher risk of pneumococcal disease, and 18-49 years of age with immunocompromising conditions, with PNEU-C-15+PNEU-P-23 an alternative.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 23","pages":"81-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715826/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wastewater surveillance for earlier detection of seniors congregate living COVID-19 outbreaks in Peterborough, Ontario.","authors":"Thomas Piggott, Mohamed Kharbouch, Michael Donaldson, Carolyn Pigeau, Donna Churipuy, Gillian Pacey, Christopher Kyle","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disproportionately affected seniors living in congregate living settings. The evolving surveillance context has led to novel use of wastewater surveillance to monitor levels of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in these settings. This study presents a pilot of upstream congregate living wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 for the detection of COVID-19 outbreaks and the effects of early public health interventions. We monitored localized wastewater SARS-CoV-2 levels from four congregate living settings March 15, 2021 to October 1, 2022 and correlated these levels with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks determined by other methods. We identified five wastewater signals that correlated with confirmed outbreaks and three wastewater signals that did not correlate with subsequent outbreaks. In the five confirmed outbreaks, the wastewater signal was detected 2-10 days (median, five days) prior to confirmation of the outbreak by case testing. This pilot demonstrates upstream sampling for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may effectively detect outbreaks prior to their detection through symptomatic case testing and could support a balanced approach to outbreak response in congregate living settings, leading to increased wellbeing of these residents.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"49 2-3","pages":"35-43"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10715756/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138815862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A cross-sectional investigation of HIV prevalence and risk factors among African, Caribbean and Black people in Ontario: The A/C Study.","authors":"Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Winston Husbands, Shamara Baidoobonso, Daeria Lawson, Muna Aden, Josephine Etowa, LaRon Nelson, Wangari Tharao","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has disproportionately affected African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities in Canada. We investigated the prevalence and factors associated with HIV infection among ACB people in Ontario.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional survey of first- and second-generation ACB people aged 15-64 years in Toronto and Ottawa (Ontario, Canada). We collected sociodemographic information, self-reported HIV status and offered dried blood spot (DBS) testing to determine the prevalence of HIV infection. Factors associated with HIV infection were investigated using regression models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 1,380 people were interviewed and 834 (60.4%) tested for HIV. The HIV prevalence was 7.5% overall (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.1-8.0) and 6.6% (95% CI 6.1-7.1) in the adult population (15-49 years). Higher age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.8; 95% CI 2.77-2.82), birth outside of Canada (aOR 4.7; 95% CI 1.50-14.71), French language (aOR 9.83; 95% CI 5.19-18.61), unemployment (aOR 1.85; 95% CI 1.62-2.11), part-time employment (aOR 4.64; 95% CI 4.32-4.99), substance use during sex (aOR 1.66; 95% CI 1.47-1.88) and homosexual (aOR 19.68; 95% CI 7.64-50.71) and bisexual orientation (aOR 2.82; 95% CI 1.19-6.65) were associated with a positive HIV test. Those with a high school (aOR 0.01; 95% CI 0.01-0.02), college (aOR 0.00; 95% CI 0.00-0.01) or university education (aOR 0.00; 95% CI 0.00-0.01), more adequate housing (aOR 0.85; 95% CI 0.82-0.88), a higher social capital score (aOR 0.61; 95% CI 0.49-0.74) and a history of sexually transmitted infections (aOR 0.40; 95% CI 0.18-0.91) were less likely to have a positive HIV test.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Human immunodeficiency virus infection is linked to sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and behavioural factors among ACB people in Ontario.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"48 10","pages":"429-437"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10730175/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138833861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Surveillance of laboratory exposures to human pathogens and toxins, Canada, 2021.","authors":"Emily R Thompson, Maryem El Jaouhari, Nadine Eltayeb, Christine Abalos, Megan Striha, Rojiemiahd Edjoc, Collins Ayoo, Samuel Bonti-Ankomah","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The Laboratory Incident Notification Canada surveillance system monitors laboratory incidents that are mandated to be reported under the <i>Human Pathogens and Toxins Act</i> and the <i>Human Pathogens and Toxins Regulations</i>. This article describes laboratory exposure incidents that occurred in Canada in 2021 and individuals affected in these incidents.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We extracted all laboratory incidents occurring in licensed Canadian laboratories in 2021 from the Laboratory Incident Notification Canada system and analyzed them using the software R. We calculated the rate of exposure incidents and performed descriptive statistics by sector, root cause, activity, occurrence type and type of pathogen/toxin. Analysis of the education level, route of exposure, sector, role and laboratory experience of the affected persons was also conducted. We conducted seasonality analysis to compare the median monthly occurrence of exposure incidents between 2016 and 2020 to monthly incidents in 2021.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Forty-three exposure incidents involving 72 individuals were reported to Laboratory Incident Notification Canada in 2021. There were two confirmed laboratory-acquired infections and one suspected infection. The annual incident exposure rate was 4.2 incidents per 100 active licenses. Most exposure incidents involved non-Security Sensitive Biological Agents (n=38; 86.4%) and human risk group 2 (RG2) pathogens (n=27; 61.4%), with bacteria (n=20; 45.5%) and viruses (n=16; 36.4%) as the most implicated agent types. Microbiology was the most common activity associated with these incidents (n=18; 41.9%) and most incidents were reported by the academic sector (n=20; 46.5%). Sharps-related (n=12; 22.2%) incidents were the most common, while human interaction (e.g. workload constraints/pressures/demands, human error) (n=29, 28.2%) was the most common root cause. Most affected individuals were exposed through inhalation (n=38; 52.8%) and worked as technicians or technologists (n=51; 70.8%). Seasonality analyses revealed that the number of exposure incidents reported in 2021 were highest in September and May.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The rate of laboratory incidents was slightly lower in 2021 than in 2020. The most common occurrence type was sharps-related while issues with human interaction was the most cited root cause.</p>","PeriodicalId":94304,"journal":{"name":"Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada","volume":"48 10","pages":"484-491"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10730106/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138833882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}