When Food is Foul: Field Epi Investigations

Agenda

Who are Field Epis?

Three themes of foodborne investigations

Continuing education opportunities

Field Epis: 1975 - 2005

Two-year program

Intake 10 public health professionals every year

MD or Masters (MSc,MHSc,MPH)

“Training through service”

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) employees placed at federal, provincial or local level

EpiAid: Policy

Formal request for Field Epi assistance

Policy posted on www.cfep.ca

Modified policy applies to international requests

EpiAid: Terms of ReferenceField Epi(s):

Date:

Date request received by CFEP:

Location:

Date of arrival in the field:

Anticipated time in the field:

Supervisor (field):

Supervisor (CFEP):

Background :

Partners:

These objectives will be fulfilled in collaboration with…

e.g., Division of ****, CIDPC, Public Health Agency of Canada OR *** Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada/Health Canada; provincial or territorial Ministry of Health; local health unit.

EpiAid: Terms of Reference Anticipated role(s):

To develop case definition(s) To assist *** identify the agent(s) causing the outbreak To assist *** in determining the extent of the outbreak To develop and apply case finding methodology To organize and interpret data collected to date/To provide a descriptive

epidemiologic summary of data collected to date To determine whether the cases in *** and *** are related/epi-linked To assist **** identify the source of the agent To determine the optimal control measure(s) To provide recommendations for disease control interventions To assist in setting up a case-control/cohort/cross-sectional study To co-author publications arising from the investigation

EpiAid: Field Epi Deployment

2-3 weeks in the field

Assist (not lead) outbreak investigation

Supported by PHAC/Health Canada content experts

EpiAid: Coming Home

Before leaving the field: Preliminary report of field activities Ensure local staff designated/trained to follow up

**Privacy Act: data collected on behalf of the requesting authority are their property, not CFEP or PHAC

Field Epi Foodborne Investigations

Descriptive epi Finding the source Data for action!

1. Descriptive Epi Person Place Time

S. Berta Outbreak Ontario, 1994

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

DATE OF ONSET

# O

F C

AS

ES

Cheese sold at market on weekends

2. Finding the Source

Finding the Source S. Stanley outbreak in BC in 2001

Vegetarians Asians Women

3. Data for Action!

Cases of S. Heidelberg in BC - 2003 incidence vs. 5 year average of same week reported in 1998-2002

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

5 YR AVE 2003

3. Data for action!

Age Distribution of S. Enteritidis Cases Canada, 1998

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 31 to35

36 to 40 >40

Age categories in years

Num

ber

of c

ases

Continuing Education

Epidemiology in Action course in Ottawa External participants Every September (3 weeks)

CFEP seminar series Sept – June First Tuesday at 14:30 NFLD Teleconference

www.cfep.ca