Navigating The Future of Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza in Canada: A National Foresight Analysis on Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Readiness

In this report, foresight analysis provides a structured approach to examining how emerging developments—rather than established trends alone—may shape future system performance. It explores the dimensions that will influence influenza vaccine policymaking and key public health decisions in the future by identifying emerging opportunities and risks associated with societal, geopolitical and technological change.

Cyclosporiasis: What Canadian Public Health Professionals Need to Know

Cyclosporiasis is an emerging foodborne parasitic disease that continues to pose public health challenges in Canada, particularly in outbreaks associated with imported fresh produce. Timely detection, effective surveillance, outbreak investigation, and coordinated public health responses are essential to reducing illness and preventing further transmission. Recent outbreaks in the USA are causing concern in North America.

Cyclosporiasis (Cyclospora cayetanensis)

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal disease caused by Cyclospora cayetanensis, a protozoan parasite. Transmission occurs via ingestion of sporulated oocysts in contaminated food or water (fecal‑oral route). It is not typically spread directly from person to person.

What Canadian Public Health Needs to Know About Hantavirus

This episode of Infectious Questions podcast explores the Hantavirus, a rodent-borne virus that can cause severe and potentially life-threatening illness in humans. In this episode, we discuss the virus’s morphology and classification, how it is transmitted through exposure to infected rodent droppings, urine, and saliva, and the signs and symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).

Nipah virus

NiV was first identified in swine and people who interacted with infected swine, but has now been identified in cats, dogs, goats, horses and is known to naturally occur in certain fruit bat types. The virus is currently endemic to Southeast Asia, in the natural habitat of the fruit bat. However, it is considered an emerging viral agent with both epidemic and pandemic potential.

Impetigo

Impetigo is a mild, but highly contagious skin infection caused by bacteria that normally reside on the body. Impetigo spreads quickly either by person-to-person contact when an infected individual touches their blisters or rash and then touches another individual, or when a healthy individual touches objects or surfaces that have already come into contact with the rash of an infected individual (fomites).

Bartonella

Bartonellosis is a group of infectious diseases caused by bacteria within the Bartonella genus. The bacteria are fastidious, aerobic, gram-negative cocci/small rods, and are hemotropic. The bacteria invade erythrocytes and the lining of blood vessels where they then proliferate.

Emerging Viral Threats: What Canadian Public Health Needs to Know About Hantavirus and Ebola

This webinar provides Canadian public health stakeholders with an evidence-informed overview of Hantavirus infections and the current Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, recently declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Hantavirus

Hantaviruses are spread mainly by the urine, droppings, or saliva of rodents. They may be transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food or water, and direct contact with the virus through cutaneous injuries or mucous membranes. The viruses do not typically spread through person-to-person contact, although limited human-to-human transmission among close and prolonged contacts has been documented with the Andes virus, primarily in Argentina and Chile.

Ebola

Canada has protocols and resources to detect, investigate, and manage Ebola cases if it were ever to appear in the country. As of May 18, 2026, the CDC reported 11 confirmed cases and 336 suspected cases, including 88 deaths, in the DRC. Cases have been identified across multiple health zones in Ituri Province. Additionally, two confirmed imported cases, including one death, were reported in Uganda among travelers originating from the DRC.