Vaccination coverage levels among children two years of age and selected aspects of vaccination practices in Canada - 1996.

Objective: To obtain population-based estimates of coverage for routine childhood vaccinations at two years of age and information about selected aspects of vaccination practices in Canada.

Methods: Data were collected through a mail survey of a sample of households with two-year-olds born between February 1993 and January 1994. To obtain population estimates, survey data were weighted to match known population distributions of geographic region, community size, household income level and single-parent versus two-parent family type.

Mapping antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates in Metropolitan Toronto: Issues of scale, positional accuracy and confidentiality.

The primary objective of this paper was to investigate the methodological implications of mapping Neisseria gonorrhoeae using the partial three-digit postal code instead of the complete six-digit postal code. The reporting locations of N gonorrhoeae isolates submitted from hospitals, doctor's offices, private and provincial laboratories, and sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics were used as a model. Specifically, the paper focused on variations in geographical distributions of STD data when mapped at different aggregations of postal code data and at different map scales.

Genetic characterization of the hemagglutinin gene of influenza B virus which predominated in the 1985/86 Canadian influenza season.

Objective: To characterize the hemagglutinin (HA) gene of B/Canada/3/85, a prototype strain of influenza B virus variants that emerged in the 1984/85 influenza season and predominated in the 1985/86 season in Canada.

Design: Sequencing and comparison of the HA genes of B/Canada/3/85 and the vaccine strains for the 1985/86 season, B/USSR/100/83, and for the 1986/87 season, B/Ann Arbor/1/86.

Results: B/Canada/3/85 was similar to B/Ann Arbor/1/86 and significantly different from B/USSR/100/83.

A comparison of perinatal mortality between ethnic Chinese and ethnic whites: why the Chinese rate was lower.

Objectives: To confirm the observation that has been occasionally reported in the literature that perinatal mortality rate is lower in ethnic Chinese than in ethnic whites, and to assess the reasons for this lower perinatal mortality rate.

Methods: Secondary-analysis based on published data.

Results: This exercise demonstrates that the perinatal mortality rate was lower in ethnic Chinese than in ethnic whites.

Detection of antibody to envelope (E2) antigen of hepatitis C virus.

One hundred and four clinical specimens from provincial public health laboratories were tested for antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope protein (anti-E2). To evaluate the effect of hypervariability of E2 region on anti-E2 assay, 49 recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) 3.0 positive samples were genotyped.

Comparison of tuberculosis infection control programs in Canadian hospitals categorized by size and risk of exposure to tuberculosis patients, 1989 to 1993 - Part 2.

Objective: To analyze tuberculosis (TB) programs in acute care hospitals (hospitals) categorized by size and risk of exposure to TB patients from 1989 to 1993.

Design: Retrospective survey.

Participants: Members of the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association-Canada and l'Association des professionnels pour la prévention des infections who worked in Canadian hospitals received questionnaires.

Status of tuberculosis infection control programs in Canadian acute care hospitals, 1989 to 1993 - Part 1.

Objective: To document tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control activities in Canadian acute care hospitals from 1989 to 1993.

Design: Retrospective questionnaire.

Participants: All members of the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association-Canada and l'Association des professionnels pour la prévention des infections who lived in Canada and worked in an acute care hospital received a questionnaire.

A case-control study of diet and lung cancer in northeast China.

A case-control study involving interviews with 227 lung-cancer cases and 227 matched hospital controls was conducted in Heilongjiang Province in northeast China to examine the influence of dietary factors on the risk of developing lung cancer. Lung-cancer cases were all incident cases judged to be suitable candidates for tumor removal by surgery. Controls were selected among hospitalized patients with non-neoplastic and non-lung disease.

Quality assurance programme for drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the WHO/IUATLD Supranational Laboratory Network: first round of proficiency testing.

Setting: Quality assurance of the WHO/IUATLD global tuberculosis drug resistance surveillance programme.

Objective: To perform a proficiency test of drug susceptibility procedures within the WHO/IUATLD network of supranational reference laboratories (SRL).

Design: Identical culture panels consisting of 20 clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis containing both drug susceptible and drug resistant cultures were tested by the 16 laboratories of the network for resistance to streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin and ethambutol.

Asthma mortality and antipsychotic or sedative use. What is the link?

Evidence in the medical literature suggests that patients with asthma who use antipsychotics or sedatives are at increased risk for serious complications of asthma. A number of mechanisms are potentially responsible for this observed association. The principle noncausal reasons for the increased risk of complications in this patient population include patient characteristics (such as the indication for antipsychotic use, noncompliance with asthma therapy, risk taking behaviour and family dysfunction) and treatment issues (including differential prescribing and the quality of medical care).

Analysis of genetic polymorphism in the phospholipase region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

mtp40 was originally identified as a short genomic region that was found in strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis but not in Mycobacterium bovis. Subsequent studies have revealed that the sequence is part of the mpcA gene, which encodes a phospholipase C. To investigate further the distribution of the mtp40 sequence, we analyzed strains of the M.

Is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transmitted in blood?

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been considered infectious since the mid-1960s, but its transmissibility through the transfusion of blood or blood products is controversial. The causative agent's novel undefined nature and resistance to standard decontamination, the absence of a screening test, and the recognition that even rare cases of transmission may be unacceptable have led to the revision of policies and procedures worldwide affecting all facets of blood product manufacturing from blood collection to transfusion. We reviewed current evidence that CJD is transmitted through blood.

Genetic identification of Mycobacterium bovis BCG by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the direct-repeat region.

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was performed on the direct repeat (DR) regions of 14 strains of Mycobacterium bovis BCG. With AluI-digested DNA, BCG Japanese, Russian, and Mexican had differing RFLP patterns but 11 strains, including Pasteur, Glaxo, and Tice, had an identical pattern not detected in over 60 strains of the M. tuberculosis complex.

Kidney cancer in Canada: the rapidly increasing incidence of adenocarcinoma in adults and seniors.

Purpose: To examine kidney cancer incidence and mortality patterns since 1969 in Canada.

Method: Linear regression of the log rates was used to estimate secular trends by age group and sex, and age-period-cohort models were fitted to examine changes in kidney cancer and renal adenocarcinoma incidence rates.

Results: A substantial increase in incidence rates was observed among those 35 years and older, with average increases of 2.

Hepatitis C in Prince Edward Island: a descriptive review of reported cases, 1990-1995.

Introduction: The prevalence of hepatitis C in Canada is not known. There is limited information on most small area populations such as Prince Edward Island.

Methods: A retrospective approach was used to obtain detailed information on all cases of hepatitis C identified in Prince Edward Island from December 1990 to September 1995.

The Canadian Study of Health and Aging: risk factors for vascular dementia.

Background And Purpose: The Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) was conducted in communities and institutions in 10 Canadian provinces. One objective of the study was to study risk factors for vascular dementia (VaD).

Methods: This was a population-based case-control study.

Estimates of the effectiveness of a whole-cell pertussis vaccine from an outbreak in an immunized population.

Pertussis has re-emerged as a public health problem in Canada in recent years, emphasizing concerns about the effectiveness of the currently licensed whole-cell vaccine. Following a 1994 outbreak in Nova Scotia, we conducted a case-control study of 483 children aged < 10 years to assess vaccine effectiveness. Ninety-three percent of children aged 6 months and above had received three or more doses of vaccine, however, only 78% had received age-appropriate immunization.