Did you know that not all enteric illnesses come from food? Pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli can also be spread to humans through contact with pets, their food, or their environments. These infections are known as enteric zoonoses, and they cause thousands of Canadians to become sick each year. This seminar will provide a summary of multi-jurisdictional enteric illness outbreaks in Canada that have been caused by contact with these sources, and dive into the key findings from a selection of outbreaks.

Olivia Van Osch is an epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada, working in enteric illness outbreak response. She holds a degree in Environmental Public Health and is a Master of Public Health student at the University of Waterloo. Olivia has completed nearly 400 enteric case interviews since the start of her career. As part of her role in outbreak response, Olivia has investigated six zoonotic outbreaks and has conducted interviews with pet store workers and corporate chains, exotic animal importers and reptile breeders.