Imported diseases: an assessment of trends

Abstract

Increasing travel, migration and other forms of international exchange have given a new importance to imported diseases in Canada. This is reflected in the maintenance of an immigration medical screening program, the development of specialized clinics in major cities, increasing interest in tropical medicine and international health, and the designation of a national reference centre for parasitology.The introduction of a point system for immigration selection in 1967 gave rise to a burgeoning influx of people from developing countries that may have plateaued only within the past year. While tuberculosis is probably the single most important health problem in immigration, parasitic infections are of increasing concern. The popularity of overseas travel among Canadians is now also a major factor in the introduction of exotic diseases into Canada. Importation of disease by international trade is far less common than by travel and immigration.On a community health scale a system of monitoring trends of immigration to Canada and travel of Canadians to and from countries with a known risk would likely provide the best indicator of trends in disease importation. Thus, there was an increase of almost threefold (11.6% to 31.1%) between 1965 and 1975 in the proportion of immigration to Canada from countries with a malaria risk and a 2.78-fold increase between 1967 and 1974 in the overall amount of Canadian travel to such countries from which statistics were available.