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. 2017:2017:5956148.
doi: 10.1155/2017/5956148. Epub 2017 Dec 19.

The Incidence of Acute Gastrointestinal Illness in Canada, Foodbook Survey 2014-2015

M Kate Thomas  1 , Regan Murray  1 , Andrea Nesbitt  1 , Frank Pollari  1
Affiliations

The Incidence of Acute Gastrointestinal Illness in Canada, Foodbook Survey 2014-2015

M Kate Thomas et al. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol. 2017.

Abstract

Acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) is an important public health issue, with many pathogen sources and modes of transmission. A one-year telephone survey was conducted in Canada (2014-2015) to estimate the incidence of self-reported AGI in the previous 28 days and to describe health care seeking behaviour, using a symptom-based case definition. Excluding cases with respiratory symptoms, it is estimated that there are 0.57 self-reported AGI episodes per person-year, almost 19.5 million episodes in Canada each year. The proportion of cases seeking medical care was nearly 9%, of which 17% reported being requested to submit a sample for laboratory testing, and 49% of those requested complied and provided a sample. Results can be used to inform burden of illness and source attribution studies and indicate that AGI continues to be an important public health issue in Canada.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly prevalence of self-reported AGI by province/territory, 2014-2015.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) and (b) Monthly prevalence of self-reported AGI by study month and symptoms, 2014-2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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