WEBCAST SERIES TB Talk: What are your tuberculosis public health questions?
As part of NCCID’s forthcoming webcast series, TB Talk, we'll be attending the End TB 2017 event, the 21st annual meeting of the North American Region of the International Union Against Tuberculosis (IUAT). Our mission: to connect one-on-one with international tuberculosis experts. Our hope: that your TB public health questions will be among those we share with these experts!
The Feb. 22-25 End TB 2017 event will feature specialists in these areas:
TB in Remote, Northern and Indigenous Communities
TB, Immigration and Migration
TB Innovations and New Technologies
Click the blue button to submit your question now (you may also email us via nccid@umanitoba.ca).
Once again, Zika virus is the focus of this program. In this episode, we’ll explore two more questions: What healthcare providers should do to evaluate infants with positive or inconclusive Zika virus test results, and, should a mother who had Zika virus infection during pregnancy breastfeed her infant. Our guest expert is Dr. Vanessa Poliquin, an obstetrician, gynecologist and reproductive infectious diseases specialist at the University of Manitoba. [Duration: apx. 9 min. |Transcript ]
**Catch all seven episodes of the Infectious Questions podcaston Stitcher**
RESOURCES
UPDATE
WHO declares end to international public health emergency regarding microcephaly and Zika
WHO
WHO Emergency Committee on Zika and microcephaly: "Zika virus and associated consequences remain a significant enduring public health challenge requiring intense action but no longer represent a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.(PHEIC)."
SURVEILLANCE
Zika situation report
WHO
Zika virus, Microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. READ
Putting the Pieces Together: A National Action Plan For Antimicrobial Stewardship
HealthCareCAN and the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases have jointly released Putting the Pieces Together: A National Action Plan For Antimicrobial Stewardship. The Action Plan lays out ten areas in which governments, healthcare organizations and professionals, civil society groups and the public can collaborate to preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics. It is built on the work of 50 experts, key influencers and stakeholders in the field of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) who met at a national roundtable in June 2016.
HealthCareCAN and NCCID co-developed the Action Plan with the support of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Three of the ten areas for action have been identified as the highest priorities for immediate action; improving professional practice, public education and an evaluation protocol to ensure activities are consistently measured for results. A number of specific activities have been identified to support these areas.
Arising from the June 2016 national roundtable, a group of experts from leading health and professional organizations and the Public Health Agency of Canada and Canadian Institutes of Health Research continue to meet to plan next steps in conserving the effectiveness of antimicrobials.
NEW FROM NCCID
PROCEEDINGS
The Two Faces of Syphilis: A Call for Sustained, National and Coordinated Responses to Syphilis
Syphilis has re-emerged in Canada during the last decade with epidemics now rooted in both urban and rural settings. While gay men are still at the centre of the urban epidemics, there is now a transition in the epidemiological pattern with increasing numbers of cases identified among northern heterosexual Indigenous men and women with the reappearance of congenital syphilis cases. To support responses to syphilis, NCCID, in partnership with the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH) and the Urban Public Health Network (UPHN), hosted a knowledge exchange forum in Montreal, November 22-23 2016. This forum brought together 42 public health specialists from across Canada. Practitioners, program coordinators, epidemiologists, researchers, policy makers, community-based partners and knowledge brokers gathered to share on ways to improve public health interventions on syphilis in Canada.
LINKS //STBBIs
SUMMARY
Measuring Canada's Progress on the 90-90-90 HIV Targets
From healthycanadians.gc.ca: "The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization have established global targets that will generate momentum towards the elimination of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 ... including the 90-90-90 targets that, by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV know their status, 90% of those diagnosed receive antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of those on treatment achieve viral suppression. ... This report provides an update on Canada's progress." The Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) also offers this overview.
INDICATORS
New PAN Evaluation Indicators Resource for Community-Based HIV and HCV Organizations
From Pacific AIDS Network: "This tool outlines a series of indicators that can be used to measure the contribution community-based HIV/HCV organizations are making to the prevention and care cascade in their region. It is hoped that the uptake and use of a common set of indicators across the sector will improve our ability to compare the relative effectiveness of different programs and services to make more informed choices, and improve learning from organizations’ most successful practices. [It] will also be a useful tool for organizations or health authorities who are working on developing individualized evaluation plans for their work."
ARTICLE
'Report Reveals Long-Standing Anti-Black Bias in Canadian HIV Criminalization Reporting'
From TheBODY.com: "Racial bias and misinformation run rampant in HIV criminalization reporting, a Canadian research team recently found, and the key to countering these dangerous media trends lies within the communities most impacted by them."
EVENTS
Upcoming events: CAHR 2017, World STI & HIV Congress
26th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, April 6-9, 2017, Montreal: Event website
2017 STI & HIV World Congress (joint meeting of ISSTDR and IUSTI), July 9-12, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Event website
NEW FROM NCCs
NCCAH
Indigenous influenza experiences
In 2013, the six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health initiated a two-year project on Influenza and Influenza-Like Illness (ILI). As part of this collaborative project, the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH) produced three papers in order to understand how influenza, such as the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, is particularly experienced by Indigenous populations in Canada:
The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic among First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada: Epidemiology and gaps in knowledge
Determinants of the prevalence and severity of influenza infection in Indigenous populations in Canada
Pandemic planning in Indigenous communities: Lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in Canada
The Excess Winter Deaths Measure: Why Its Use Is Misleading for Public Health Understanding of Cold-related Health Impacts
Epidemiology
"Excess winter deaths, the ratio between average daily deaths in December–March versus other months, is a measure commonly used by public health practitioners and analysts to assess health burdens associated with wintertime weather. We seek to demonstrate that this measure is fundamentally biased..." READ
SOCIAL FACTORS
Disparities in influenza mortality and transmission related to sociodemographic factors within Chicago in the pandemic of 1918
PNAS
"The pervasiveness of influenza among humans and its rapid spread during pandemics create a false sense that all humans are affected equally. In this work, we show that neighborhood-level social determinants [such as literacy, homeownership, and unemployment] were associated with greater burdens of pandemic influenza in 1918 and several other diseases in a major US city ... [suggesting] social disparities should be a focus of research and public health response in future pandemics." READ
ORAL ABSTRACT
Characteristics of Infants <6 Months of Age with Severe or Fatal Influenza Infections: California, April 2009–September 2014
2016 CSTE
"We described the demographic and clinical characteristics of [142] infants <6 months of age with severe (intensive care unit [ICU] admission) or fatal influenza infections reported to the California Department of Public Health ... Given that a disproportionate number of infected infants were born during October–December, providers should prioritize and encourage women with expected delivery dates during these months to receive influenza vaccine..." READ
SUMMARY
Motivating concern about pandemic influenza: Effects of graphics and disease terms in a 11-country study
North American Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making
"[It] is important to identify methods to communicate disease risks that influence perceived risk and vaccination intentions ... we evaluated the effects of different risk graphics and disease terms on people’s reactions to an infectious disease." READ
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Factors associated with the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination in adults
Journal of Public Health
Systematic literature review based on 23 articles, showing that advancement in age and having chronic diseases "were strongly indicative of vaccine uptake. Perceptions on vaccine efficacy and vaccine safety and adverse events were more influential than the level of knowledge on influenza and its vaccination. Advice from doctors/health professionals/family and/or close friends and free vaccination were also key factors in association with uptake of vaccination." READ
ARTICLE
Flu forecasts successful on neighborhood level
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
"Scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health developed a computer model to predict the onset, duration, and magnitude of influenza outbreaks for New York City boroughs and neighborhoods. ... the first to successfully forecast influenza with this level of geographic granularity." READ
DATA ANALYSIS
Influenza-Related Hospitalizations and Poverty Levels: United States, 2010–2012
CDC
"A collaborative initiative among 14 states ... found increasing rates of influenza-related hospitalization [associated] with increasing census tract poverty. This finding was present during two influenza seasons, among all 14 sites, all age and racial/ethnic groups, and for more severe outcomes of hospitalization ... Persons in poorer neighborhoods should be a focus for enhanced influenza vaccination outreach and early use of antiviral treatment." READ
VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS
A perfect storm: Impact of genomic variation and serial vaccination on low influenza vaccine effectiveness during the 2014-15 season
Clinical Infectious Diseases
"The 2014-15 influenza season was distinguished by an A(H3N2) epidemic of antigenically-drifted virus and vaccine containing identical components to 2013-14. We report 2014-15 vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates from Canada ... A combination of agent-host factors, including variation in the viral genome and negative effects of repeat vaccination, likely contributed to poor influenza vaccine performance in 2014-15." READ
SUMMARY
Study: Flu vaccine doesn't prevent missed school days
CIDRAP
New study that shows "influenza vaccination does not reduce absenteeism, or the number of days of school that kids miss because of flu, casting some doubt about how often the vaccine prevents severe illness in children ages 5 to 17 years. The study contradicts previous research that showed lower absenteeism in vaccinated school-age children. ... This is the first study to look at absentee rates among children with lab-confirmed flu, not just non-specific respiratory illnesses, the authors said." READ
REVIEW
Influenza outbreaks in care homes: what can we do better?
The Journal of Hospital Infection
"We reviewed the management of influenza outbreaks in [∼3300] care homes in the South East of England to assess current practice and identify opportunities for improvement." READ
Production of this newsletter has been made possible through a financial contribution from PHAC. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of PHAC.
