Case finding

In order to assess the scope of the outbreak, you need to identify all Salmonella Newport cases in Canada that may be associated with the outbreak (case finding). It is also good practice to notify public health partners of the investigation and that a national OICC has been activated.

One way to achieve these goals is to post a Public Health Alert (PHA) using the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence (CNPHI) web-based platform. Public Health Alerts is an application on CNPHI that allows public health professionals across Canada to receive alerts of domestic and international investigations for situational awareness and case finding.

Question 2-4: What kind of information do you include in this alert?

  • Pathogen and PulseNet Canada cluster code
  • Case definitions (if available)
  • Number, location, and onset dates of cases
  • Basic demographic and severity information (e.g., age, sex, hospitalizations, deaths)
  • Information about the hypothesized source
  • Requested action for recipients
  • Contact information for the outbreak investigation lead

 The Public Health Alert for this case study can be viewed here.

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