No case of poliomyelitis has yet been reported in Canada, while the first patient with paralysis resulting from the disease has put our American neighbors on red alert.

While the presence of poliovirus has been detected in sewage in London and New York, efforts are being made in Canada to establish a similar surveillance system. “Sewage testing in a number of Canadian cities will begin as soon as possible. At this time, it is not possible to give an accurate estimate of when this test will be operational, as significant scientific work remains to be done. Have to Health Canada’s Department of Media Relations and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) will test wastewater samples collected earlier this year from key high-risk communities (where polio vaccination rates are low and/or where there are epidemiological links to cases identified in the United States). were used to determine if poliomyelitis was present before the reported international cases.

More specifically, in Quebec, sewage samples were collected from certain Montreal neighborhoods for analysis at the NML in Winnipeg, as the virus was detected in New York sewage.

Quebec Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Robert Maranda said Have to that “a call for vigilance will shortly be sent to clinicians most likely to come into contact with possible severe cases.”

In Quebec, “all children who come to a hospital for paralysis are tested for polio. There is a system that has been put in place with the Canadian Pediatric Association so that we don’t miss a case,” says Dr.^right Nicholas Brousseau, Medical Advisor at the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ) and researcher at CHU de Québec-Université Laval.

vaccination

The MSSS recalls that, given the resurgence of poliomyelitis in our regions, “vaccination remains the best prevention strategy”. “The polio vaccine is available free of charge for under-18s who are under-vaccinated,” says Mr. Maranda.

Should we be more proactive and give all children a booster dose like we are doing in London where the virus was simply detected in sewage? “England is the only place where children get an extra dose. But in this country, the vaccination schedule does not include the vaccination dose after 12 months like here in Quebec. With Britons only vaccinating at two, three and four months and then just before school starts, there is a period when children are less well protected, which is why they are proposing a precautionary dose for children under the age of ten,” the D^right Brousseau, who is a member of the Quebec Committee on Immunization (CIQ).

“We’re not in Quebec. We are closely monitoring the situation, if it changes we will review the options,” he adds.

“More targeted vaccination strategies can be implemented if the epidemiological situation requires it,” confirms MSSS’s Mr Maranda.

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