West Nile Virus

Report on Surveillance of the West Nile Virus and Other Arboviruses in Québec: 2016 Season

In 2016, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) asked the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) to add the eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and the California serogroup viruses (CSGV) to the West Nile virus (WNV) integrated surveillance. The MSSS also requested surveillance of the Aedes albopictus mosquito.

During 2016, 30 cases of WNV infection and five cases of encephalitis linked to CSGV were reported to the public health service. All of the cases were acquired in Québec.

Therefore, 53 entomological stations were set up in the province of Québec: three specifically to collect EEEV vectors, nine for Aedes albopictus surveillance, and 41 for combined WNV and CSGV surveillance. In all, 935 mosquito pools were tested for WNV, 101 for EEEV, and 91 for CSGV. Among them, 28 (3%), 4 (4%) and 2 (2%), respectively, tested positive for these viruses. No Aedes albopictus mosqui…

Integrated West Nile Virus Surveillance

A new government intervention plan was adopted in early 2013 to protect public health against West Nile virus (WNV) infection, since WNV infection epidemiological activity had resumed in Québec in 2011 and 2012. This new plan establishes the strategy to be pursued for the years 2013 to 2015. The primary objective of the strategy adopted by public health authorities is to prevent the complications and human mortality related to WNV infection.

Interventions are planned to combat the WNV vector, namely mosquitoes. The intervention plan also includes communication activities aimed at the general public and health care and social services network professionals. An integrated surveillance program was set up in 2013 to continue monitoring the situation. This program allows us to characterize WNV activity in Québec in humans and animals.

This analysis plan was prepared by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec's Groupe d'experts scientifiques sur le VNO [WNV…

West Nile Virus Infection Surveillance in Québec: 2013 Season

In 2013, integrated surveillance of West Nile virus (WNV) in Québec included epidemiological surveillance of human cases, entomological surveillance of mosquitoes and surveillance of animals, including wild birds and domestic animals (agricultural).

During this season, 30 human cases of WNV infection were acquired in Québec, including 29 confirmed cases and one probable case. Of these, 23 (77%) were classed as WNV neuroinvasive cases and 22 were hospitalized, including eight people who were admitted to intensive care and one person who died of meningitis caused by WNV.

The average age of cases was 59 years and two thirds of the cases were men (20/30). More than 70% of the human cases occurred in the Montérégie, Montréal and Laval regions. Of the reported animals that were confirmed positive, nearly 66% were found in these same regions. A total of 2,530 mosquito pools were tested for WNV in 2013, and 60 pools (2.4%) tested positive.

In…

Preliminary Notice Concerning the Selection of an Adulticide for the Control of Mosquitoes to Prevent the Transmission of West Nile Virus in Quebec and Elsewhere in Canada

In the event that West Nile virus (WNV) enters Canada, the control of the principal vector would be one of the key components of the efforts to limit the spread of this virus. At the present time, it appears that mosquitoes are the primary vector of WNV to humans and other animals.

The use of insecticides for this purpose is not without certain human health risks. For that reason, it is critical to select the product that offers the highest level of safety, both for the public and for workers who apply the treatments.

To determine what adulticide offers the highest level of safety, we evaluate the principal toxicity indices of the potential products identified for this type of work namely malathion, resmethrin, permethrin, propoxur and dichlorvos.

Given the lead time required to draft this notice, we focussed primarily on the most recent studies and those that most effectively met the new toxicity assessment requirements.

In order to take account of t…