ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7959-7078
Current Organisations
University of Toronto
,
Unity Health Toronto
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Publisher: European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
Date: 29-10-2015
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2015.20.43.30047
Abstract: Respiratory specimens collected from outpatients with influenza-like illness in three Canadian provinces (British Columbia (BC), Alberta and Quebec) participating in a community-based sentinel surveillance network were prospectively screened for enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) from 1 August to 31 December 2014 and compared to specimens collected from 1 October 2013 to 31 July 2014. Eighteen (1%) of 1,894 specimens were EV-D68-positive: 1/348 (0.3%) collected from October to December 2013 and 11/460 (2.4%) from October to December 2014, an eight-fold increase in detection rates (p=0.01), consistent with epidemic circulation in autumn 2014. The remaining EV-D68 detections were in September 2014 (6/37). Enhanced passive surveillance was also conducted on all inpatient and outpatient EV-D68 cases (n=211) detected at the BC provincial reference laboratory from 28 August to 31 December 2014. Incidence of hospitalisations was 3/100,000 overall and 21, 17, 4 and 1/100,000 among those , 5–9, 10–19 and ≥20-years-old with male-to-female ratios among paediatric but not adult cases. Three cases in BC with comorbidity or co-infection died and five exhibited neurological features persisting months. Active surveillance in outpatient and inpatient settings is needed from more areas and additional seasons to better understand EV-D68 epidemiology and potential at-risk groups for severe or unusual manifestations.
Publisher: European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
Date: 09-02-2017
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.6.30460
Abstract: Using a test-negative design, the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) assessed interim 2016/17 influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against dominant influenza A(H3N2) viruses considered antigenically matched to the clade 3C.2a vaccine strain. Sequence analysis revealed substantial heterogeneity in emerging 3C.2a1 variants by province and over time. Adjusted VE was 42% (95% confidence interval: 18–59%) overall, with variation by province. Interim virological and VE findings reported here warrant further investigation to inform potential vaccine reformulation.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-03-2015
Abstract: Canada's Sentinel Physician Surveillance Network links genetic, antigenic, and vaccine effectiveness (VE) measures in an integrated platform of influenza monitoring, described here for the 2013-2014 influenza season of resurgent A(H1N1)pdm09 and late-season type B activity. VE was estimated as [1 - odds ratio] × 100% and compared vaccination status between in iduals who tested positive (cases) and those who tested negative (controls) for influenza virus. Vaccine-virus relatedness was assessed by genomic sequence analysis and hemagglutination inhibition assays. Analyses included 1037 controls (of whom 33% were vaccinated) and 663 cases (of whom 14% were vaccinated). A total of 415 cases tested positive for A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, 15 tested positive for A(H3N2) virus, 191 tested positive for B/Yamagata-lineage virus, 6 tested positive for B/Victoria-lineage virus, and 36 tested positive for viruses of unknown subtype or lineage. A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses belonged to clade 6B, distinguished by a K163Q substitution, but remained antigenically similar to the A/California/07/2009-like vaccine strain, with an adjusted VE of 71% (95% confidence interval [CI], 58%-80%). Most B/Yamagata-lineage viruses (83%) clustered phylogenetically with the prior (ie, 2012-2013) season's B/Wisconsin/01/2010-like clade 3 vaccine strain, while only 17% clustered with the current (ie, 2013-2014) season's B/Massachusetts/02/2012-like clade 2 vaccine strain. The adjusted VE for B/Yamagata-lineage virus was 73% (95% CI, 57%-84%), with a lower VE obtained after partial calendar-time adjustment for clade-mismatched B/Wisconsin/01/2010-like virus (VE, 63% 95% CI, 41%-77%), compared with that for clade-matched B/Massachusetts/02/2012-like virus (VE, 88% 95% CI, 48%-97%). No A(H3N2) viruses clustered with the A/Texas/50/2012-like clade 3C.1 vaccine strain, and more than half were antigenically mismatched, but sparse data did not support VE estimation. VE corresponded with antigenically conserved A(H1N1)pdm09 and lineage-matched B/Yamagata viruses with clade-level variation. Surveillance linking genotypic, phenotypic, and epidemiologic measures of vaccine-virus relatedness and effectiveness could better inform predictions of vaccine performance and reformulation.
Publisher: European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
Date: 21-01-2016
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.3.30112
Abstract: As elsewhere, few ( 15%) sentinel influenza A(H3N2) clade 3C.2a viruses that dominated in Canada during the 2014/15 season could be antigenically characterised by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. Clade 3C.2a viruses that could be HI-characterised had acquired genetic mutations during in vitro cell culture isolation that modified the potential glycosylation motif found in original patient specimens and the consensus sequence of circulating viruses at amino acid positions 158–160 of the haemagglutinin protein. Caution is warranted in extrapolating antigenic relatedness based on limited HI findings for clade 3C.2a viruses that continue to circulate globally.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 29-03-2016
DOI: 10.1093/CID/CIW176
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-10-2017
Publisher: European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)
Date: 17-03-2016
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.11.30168
Abstract: Using a test-negative design, the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) assessed interim 2015/16 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses. Adjusted VE showed significant protection of 64% (95% confidence interval (CI): 44–77%) overall and 56% (95%CI: 26–73%) for adults between 20 and 64 years-old against medically attended, laboratory-confirmed A(H1N1)pdm09 illness. Among the 67 A(H1N1)pdm09-positive specimens that were successfully sequenced, 62 ( 90%) belonged to the emerging genetic 6B.1 subclade, defined by S162N (potential gain of glycosylation) and I216T mutations in the haemagglutinin protein. Findings from the Canadian SPSN indicate that the 2015/16 northern hemisphere vaccine provided significant protection against A(H1N1)pdm09 illness despite genetic evolution in circulating viruses.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-02-2017
No related grants have been discovered for Catharine Chambers.