1. When Food is Foul: Field Epi Investigations

2. Agenda  Who are Field Epis?  Three themes of foodborne investigations  Continuing education opportunities

3. Field Epis: 1975 - 2005 Two-year program Intake 10 public health professionals every year  MD or Masters (MSc,MHSc,MPH) “Training through service” Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) employees placed at federal, provincial or local level

5. EpiAid: Policy  Formal request for Field Epi assistance  Policy posted on www.cfep.ca  Modified policy applies to international requests

6. EpiAid: Terms of Reference Field Epi(s): Date: Date request received by CFEP: Location: Date of arrival in the field: Anticipated time in the field: Supervisor (field): Supervisor (CFEP): Background : Partners:  These objectives will be fulfilled in collaboration with… e.g., Division of ****, CIDPC, Public Health Agency of Canada OR *** Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada/Health Canada; provincial or territorial Ministry of Health; local health unit.

7. EpiAid: Terms of Reference  Anticipated role(s): To develop case definition(s) To assist *** identify the agent(s) causing the outbreak To assist *** in determining the extent of the outbreak To develop and apply case finding methodology To organize and interpret data collected to date/To provide a descriptive epidemiologic summary of data collected to date To determine whether the cases in *** and *** are related/epi-linked To assist **** identify the source of the agent To determine the optimal control measure(s) To provide recommendations for disease control interventions To assist in setting up a case-control/cohort/cross-sectional study To co-author publications arising from the investigation

8. EpiAid: Field Epi Deployment  2-3 weeks in the field  Assist (not lead) outbreak investigation  Supported by PHAC/Health Canada content experts

9. EpiAid: Coming Home Before leaving the field:  Preliminary report of field activities  Ensure local staff designated/trained to follow up **Privacy Act: data collected on behalf of the requesting authority are their property, not CFEP or PHAC

10. Field Epi Foodborne Investigations  Descriptive epi  Finding the source  Data for action!

11. 1. Descriptive Epi  Person  Place  Time

12. S. Berta Outbreak Ontario, 1994 Cheese sold at market on weekends

13. 2. Finding the Source

15. Finding the Source  S. Stanley outbreak in BC in 2001 Vegetarians Asians Women

17. 3. Data for Action!

19. 3. Data for action!

20. Age Distribution of S. Enteritidis Cases Canada, 1998

23. Continuing Education  Epidemiology in Action course in Ottawa External participants Every September (3 weeks)  CFEP seminar series Sept – June First Tuesday at 14:30 NFLD Teleconference

24. www.cfep.ca