Reporting Diseases of Public Health Significance

The following designated diseases under the Health Protection and Promotion Act are to be reported to the Medical Officer of Health.

Diseases that are bold should be reported immediately by phone and those not emboldened can be reported by the next working day.

You can contact Northwestern Health Unit offices Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. through local office contacts. After-hours support is available 24/7 at 1-807-468-7109 or toll-free at 1-866-475-6505.

Zoonotic / Enteric Diseases

• Amebiasis
• Anaplasmosis
• Anthrax
• Babesiosis
• Blastomycosis
• Botulism
• Brucellosis
• Campylobacter enteritis
• Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE)
• Cholera
• Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) outbreaks and outbreak-associated cases within hospitals, preliminary notification
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, all types
• Cryptospridiosis
• Cyclosporiasis
• Echinococcus mutilocularis infection
• Food poisoning, all causes
• Gastroenteritis, institutional outbreaks
• Giardiasis, except asymptomatic cases
• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
• Hemorrhagic fevers, including:
  1. Ebola virus disease
  2. Marburg virus disease
  3. Other viral causes
• Hepatitis A
• Lassa Fever
• Listeriosis
• Lyme Disease
• Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
• Paratyphoid Fever
• Plague
• Powassan virus
• Psittacosis/Ornithosis
• Q Fever
• Rabies
• Salmonellosis
• Shigellosis
• Trichinosis
• Tularemia
• Typhoid Fever
• Verotoxin-producing E.Coli infection indicator conditions including Hemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS)
• West Nile Virus
• Yersiniosis

Respiratory / Direct Contact Diseases

• Acute Flaccid Paralysis
• COVID-19
• Encephalitis, including
  1. Primary, viral
  2. Post-infectious
  3. Vaccine-related
  4. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis
  5. Unspecified
• Group A Streptococcal disease, invasive
• Group B Streptococcal infections, neonatal
• Haemophilus influenzae disease, all types, invasive
• Influenza (report lab-confirmed novel influenza immediately)
• Legionellosis
• Leprosy
• Meningitis, acute
  1. Bacterial
  2. Viral
  3. Other
• Meningococcal disease, invasive
• Monkeypox
• Ophthalmia neonatorum
• Respiratory infection outbreaks in institutions and public hospitals
• SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV
• Smallpox
• Tuberculosis

Sexually Transmitted Infections / Blood Borne Infections

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS)
• Chancroid
• Chlamydia trachomatis infections
• Gonorrhea
• Hepatitis B
• Hepatitis C
• Syphilis

Vaccine-preventable Diseases

• Diphtheria
• Measles
• Mumps
• Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
• Poliomyelitis, acute
• Rubella
• Rubella, congenital syndrome
• Streptococcus pneumoniae, invasive
• Tetanus
• Varicella (chickenpox)

Suspect/clinical and confirmed cases of designated diseases are required to be reported to the Medical Officer of Health as per the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Please complete the online report or fax the report forms to 1-807-468-3813.

You must report some diseases immediately, by phone, if they are suspected or confirmed; please see the Designated Diseases of Public Health Significance list for details. You can contact Northwestern Health Unit offices Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. through local office contacts. After-hours support is available 24/7 at 1-807-468-7109 or toll-free at 1-866-475-6505.

Completing the Reporting Form

Use the following to help complete the Reporting Diseases of Public Health Significance Form:

• Report a disease to public health as soon as it may be suspected. The health unit can help with the following:
  • Current disease trends – local, regional, provincial.
  • Type of lab samples needed to send to ensure appropriate testing.
  • Provincial immunization database access to review immunization records.
  • Community partnerships to help with control measures to minimize spread.
• Complete the NWHU Diseases of Public Health Significance Reporting Form when a designated disease is suspected or confirmed.
  • Suspect case – person with clinical symptoms, travel history, epidemiological link (exposure to a confirmed case).
  • Confirmed case – designated disease confirmed by lab testing.
• Information/data collected is entered into the provincial reporting database under the authority of the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
  • Information in the database is used to establish trends and linkages and is an important resource for managing individual cases and outbreaks of Diseases of Public Health Significance.
• Reports can be completed online or on paper and faxed to our confidential fax at 1-807-468-3813.
• Diseases that are in bold font should be reported immediately by phone in addition to faxing a report and those not emboldened can be faxed by the next working day.
• Northwestern Health Unit offices can be contacted during normal working hours Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. through local office contacts. After-hours support is available 24/7 at 1-807-468-7109 or toll-free at 1-866-475-6505 if needed.

When completing the reporting form ensure the following is completed as appropriate:

• Demographic – current contact information. This is crucial for contacting the case regarding follow-up (education, possible prophylaxis for contacts, possible immunization for contacts, etc.). Please verify with the client that contact information is accurate, when possible.
• Relevant immunization – is important if it is a vaccine-preventable disease e.g. Influenza, pertussis, pneumococcal/strep pneumoniae, etc.; please record if known.
• Disease details – knowing when an individual started feeling sick (onset) and the symptoms experienced helps us with timelines regarding incubation, exposures, and case definition (during an outbreak).
• Risk factors – knowing risk factor data helps identify patterns regarding disease trends within the population.
  • Identify at-risk groups – those getting the disease.
  • Identify possible factors that may affect getting the disease – this may help identify behaviour activities that could possibly be modified or changed.
• Travel history – is a key factor to know especially regarding diseases that we don’t expect to see in northwestern Ontario. Where did the person get it? Traveling anywhere outside of the community might be relevant; more information is better.
• Employment – knowing where an individual works is important to know regarding the risk to others and the possible spread to vulnerable populations and the general public.
• Treatment – knowing the treatment history helps determine if the client was treated as per the disease treatment recommendations.
  • Only include the meds directly connected to the reportable disease treatment e.g. antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals (route, dose, frequency, start date, and doctor who ordered).
• Hospital – if the client was hospitalized, admission, and discharge dates (if known).

Regional disease trends

• Endemic/non-endemic – we do not expect to see many of the designated diseases on the list as many of these diseases are non-endemic to our area or not commonly found.
  • Non-endemic – not normally circulating in the area.
  • Endemic – a disease regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.
• We do not expect to see vaccine-preventable diseases as we have high rates of immunization. When a large proportion or percentage of the community is immunized, the chance of the disease finding enough people to infect and spread is low (herd immunity).
• Herd immunity helps protect people who are not immunized or immune.
• Vaccine-preventable diseases: Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b*, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Pneumococcal disease (Strep Pneumoniae), Influenza, Hepatitis B, Meningococcal disease (meningococcus or Neisseria meningitidis) and travel diseases – Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis.
• If we do get a case of a disease that is non-endemic and/or vaccine preventable, it most likely is a result of travel exposure. Non-immune people can get exposed to the disease as a result of being exposed to a country with lower immunization rates and experiencing outbreaks.

*All types of Invasive Haemophilus influenzae are designated diseases and must be reported. Only type b (“Hib”) is vaccine preventable.

Client information

Client name: *

Gender:

If child - parent's name:

Health Card number:

Client address:

Address Line 1

City

State / Province / Region

Postal Code

Home phone number:

Relevant immunizations up to date:

• Yes
• No
• Unknown

Client birth date:

Physician information

Are you the client's attending or family physician?

• Attending physician
• Family physician

Attending physician information

Attending physician name:

Attending Physician Address:

Address Line 1

City

State / Province / Region

Attending physician phone number:

Family physician information

Family physician name:

Family physician address:

Address Line 1

City

State / Province / Region

Family physician phone number:

Disease information

Designated disease:

Reported date:

Type:

• Suspected / Clinical Case
• Lab Confirmed Case

Onset date:

Symptoms:

• Asymptomatic
• Fever
• Cough
• Dyspnea
• Nausea/vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Malaise
• Abdominal Pain
• Other - specify below

Other symptoms:

Name of reporter:

Client risk factors

Risk Factors

• None known
• Unimmunized
• lmmunocompromised
• Contaminated food / water
• Occupational
• Medical / Chronic illness risk factors - specify below
• Behavioural / Lifestyle risk factors - specify below
• Travel history - specify below
• Employment - specify below

Medical / chronic illness risk factors:

Behavioural / lifestyle risk factors:

Travel information:

• Out of Region
• Out of Country

Where did the client travel?

When did the client travel?

How did the client travel?

Employment factors:

Treatment information

Treatment

Was the client hospitalized for this episode?

• Yes
• No
• Unknown

Name of hospital / facility:

Admission date:

Discharge date:

Drug:

Dose / frequency:

Route:

Prescribed by:

Started date:

Duration or D/C date:

Drug:

Dose / frequency:

Route:

Prescribed by:

Started date:

Duration or D/C date:

Drug:

Dose / frequency:

Route:

Prescribed by:

Started date:

Duration or D/C date:

Notes:

Submit

Suspect/clinical and confirmed cases of designated diseases are required to be reported to the Medical Officer of Health as per the Health Protection and Promotion Act.