Zoonosis

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) conducted a training project with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) from January to December 2019 in the regions where Lyme disease (LD) is a growing public health issue. The objective was to train Lyme disease prevention ambassadors through a cascade training approach (training trainers).

Once trained, the members of this new regional network had to lead activities to raise LD awareness among their colleagues and clients and independently carry out tick sampling activities in their respective communities. In total, 18 ambassadors were trained and 28 awareness-raising activities were organized, directly reaching at least 1,860 people in seven different public health units. During this period, 28 sampling activities were completed, and 36 ticks were collected (through active and passive surveillance). The participants’ evaluation of the project was very positive. The project very clearly fulfilled a need of outdoo…

• In Québec, like elsewhere in the world, diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans (zoonoses), which account for about 60% of diseases communicable to humans, are currently emerging. The complex dynamics of zoonoses can be affected by climate change. In response to this complexity, the Observatoire initiated a zoonosis prioritization approach in 2015 in the context of climate change. This approach allowed it to develop a portrait of zoonoses that will serve as the basis for documenting their evolving situations in Québec, in an effort to anticipate potential issues of concern. Documenting the zoonoses also allowed it to better identify the challenges and knowledge gaps specific to the prioritized zoonoses, thereby serving as a tool to direct and optimize zoonosis research, surveillance, prevention and control activities. Twelve zoonoses were prioritized: food-borne botulism in Nunavik, campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, eastern equine encephalitis, verotoxigeni…

• Zika virus emerged in the Americas in 2015 and has since expanded its geographical range significantly. Currently, the virus is transmitted locally in 35 countries of the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

• Zika virus infection is benign: 70 to 80% of patients have no symptoms, whereas 20% have a fever and rash accompanied by arthralgia and myalgia, conjunctivitis, headache, retro-orbital pain and fatigue.

• Zika virus infection can cause neurological complications, including Guillain-Barré syndrome.

• Zika virus infection during pregnancy causes congenital defects, including newborn microcephaly.

• Zika virus infection is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes: in America, Ae. aegypti is the primary vector and Ae. albopictus is a potential vector. These vectors are currently absent in Québec.

• Zika virus needs a threshold te…

In Nunavik, common practices such as the consumption of untreated water and raw game may promote exposure to pathogenic agents responsible for zoonoses, infections that may be transmitted from animals to humans, as well as for food-borne and water-borne infections. As part of the 2004 Nunavik Inuit Health Survey, information was gathered to depict the supply of drinking water and to determine the prevalence of certain infections among the Inuit population, including gastroenteritis.

The results reveal that the region and socioeconomic characteristics (age, education and revenue) of the main respondents (n = 521) were associated with the supply of drinking water in households (source of drinking water, type of treatment used in the house and frequency of cleaning the domestic reservoir). Approximately one third of households draw their main water from a natural source and this practice is more common among respondents aged 50 and over, those with a lower level of education an…