Canada needs a better infectious disease surveillance system to detect emerging respiratory pathogens that includes waste-water testing, population-based testing and genomics, hotmedline cart according to an analysis published in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMJA).
Clinical and outbreak management (COM) platforms were critical tools in Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we need expanded surveillance systems to anticipate emerging viruses and support an effective public health response.
“Strengthening surveillance in Canada remains critical,” writes Dr. Beate Sander, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and a Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases at University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario. “Although COM platforms are essential for clinical care and contact tracing, robust population-based surveillance systems can better provide actionable data on community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging and re-emerging respiratory pathogens to inform proactive and equitable public health policy.”
The authors suggest that a system based on waste-water testing, population-based testing and genomic sequencing of samples will provide accurate, timely data for an integrated, adaptive approach. The system must make surveillance data available in real time to the public and public health community.
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