Respiratory Infection in Institutions during Early Stages of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Canada

DOI: 10.3201/eid1512.091022
Suggested citation for this article: Marchand-Austin A, Farrell DJ, Jamieson FB, Lombardi N, Lombos E, Narang S, et al. Respiratory infection in institutions during early stages of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Canada. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009 Dec; [Epub ahead of print]

Respiratory Infection in Institutions during Early Stages of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Canada
Alex Marchand-Austin, David J. Farrell, Frances B. Jamieson, Nino Lombardi, Ernesto Lombos, Sunita Narang, Holy Akwar, Donald E. Low, and Jonathan B. Gubbay
Author affiliations: Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (D.J. Farrell, F.B. Jamieson, N. Lombardi, E. Lombos, S. Narang, H. Akwar, D.E. Low, J.B. Gubbay); and Public Health Agency of Canada, Toronto (A. Marchand-Austin)

Outbreaks of respiratory infection in institutions in Ontario, Canada were studied from April 20 to June 12, 2009, during the early stages of influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009. Despite widespread presence of influenza in the general population, only 2 of 83 outbreaks evaluated by molecular methods were associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009.

Respiratory infection outbreaks in institutions housing large numbers of residents create an ideal environment for disease transmission (1). Patients in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) for the elderly are more susceptible to respiratory infections and have a higher risk for complications (2,3).

The Study
We reviewed respiratory infection outbreaks registered with the Public Health Laboratory (PHL), Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion dating back to October 2007 (Table 1). Molecular detection methods were used for a subset of outbreaks registered during October 1,...

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