This case study is an investigation of a fictitious Salmonella Newport outbreak from the federal perspective, with cases in multiple provinces across Canada.

Please note: this fictionalized outbreak takes place in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In real life, the pandemic affected overall case testing (e.g., individuals not going to seek health care) and resources at all levels of public health across Canada, so those factors would need to be taken into account. However, for the purpose of this case study, those factors will be excluded.

The objectives of this case study are to demonstrate tools for use in enteric outbreak investigations. This case study is not designed to be an introductory course on enteric outbreak investigation in Canada; therefore, some background knowledge of enteric outbreak investigation and epidemiology is assumed. Further, the case study is not intended to be a guidance document for outbreak investigation in Canada, as all outbreaks are unique. You do not have to complete the case study in order to use the tools on Toolkit. You can search for the specific tools you are interested in and only use certain parts of the case study, either to provide an example of how the tool is used or as a practical exercise to familiarize yourself with the tool.

The overall objectives of this case study are:

• To demonstrate tools and resources that can be used for enteric outbreak investigations, and
• To provide an example of how multi-jurisdictional enteric outbreaks may be investigated from the federal perspective.

This case study is divided into four modules:

• Module 1: Cluster detection and initial investigation
• Module 2: Hypothesis generation
• Module 3: Weight of evidence
• Module 4: Concluding the investigation

If at any point you wish to navigate to a different section of the case study, a ‘Site Map’ is available for this purpose and contains links to each page. The Site Map may be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

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