Register Here
Date
June 13, 2023
Time
11am – 12pm Central Time
Synopsis
Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR TB) is a potentially fatal and difficult to treat infectious disease. Incidence in Canada is low but is may increase in coming years. Managing MDR TB presents several challenges for public health systems and places an enormous burden on those affected and their families.
Objectives
- Participants will gain a deeper understanding of why MDR TB is a serious threat to public health in Canada.
- Participants will learn about key challenges for the Canadian response to MDR TB.
- Participants will increase awareness of solutions to reduce MDR TB incidence in Canada and to support people affected and their families.
This webinar will be delivered in English. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.
Moderator
Nancy Bedingfield, Project Manager
Speaker

Dr. Brett Edwards is a clinician and researcher in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary. He completed his subspecialty medicine training in Infectious Diseases before obtaining a Clinical and Research Fellowship in Mycobacterial Disease at the University of Toronto and West Park Health Care Centre. He obtained further clinical training in TB, including drug-resistant TB, at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, which sees some of the highest rates of MDR-TB worldwide. He currently works with Calgary TB Services, which works directly with Public Health in Alberta, in addition to Clinical Infectious Diseases, and the Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Program at the University of Calgary.
Access Instructions
We will send participants all required webinar information and Zoom access URL within the week before the event.
Resources
- Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis: Disease Debrief (2022), National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases, Available from: https://nccid.ca/debrief/multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis/
- Sarah K. Brode, Rachel Dwilow, Dennis Kunimoto, Dick Menzies & Faiz Ahmad Khan (2022) Chapter 8: Drug-resistant tuberculosis, Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, 6:sup1, 109-128, Canadian Tuberculosis Standards (8th Ed): DOI: 10.1080/24745332.2022.2039499
- Tuberculosis: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (2018), World Health Organization, Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/tuberculosis-multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis-(mdr-tb)
- Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Fact Sheet (2016), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/drtb/mdrtb.htm
Additional resources:
- Marie LaFreniere, Demy Dam, Canadian Tuberculosis Laboratory Technical Network, Lori Strudwick, Sarah McDermott, Tuberculosis drug resistance in Canada 2018 (2020) Canada Communicable Disease Report, 46(1) Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2020-46/issue-1-january-2-2020/article-2-tuberculosis-trend-canada-2008-2018.html
- William Connors, Cesilia Nishi, Inna Sekirov, Victoria Cook, James Johnston, Novel six-month all oral treatment of pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Canada: New treatment options present new implementation challenges (2023) Canada Communicable Disease Report, 49(1) Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2023-49/issue-1-january-2023/novel-six-month-oral-treatment-pre-extensively-drug-resistant-tuberculosis.html
- Takashi Hirama, Natasha Sabur, Peter Derkach, Jane McNamee, Howard Song, Theodore Marras and Sarah Brode, Risk factors for drug-resistant tuberculosis at a referral centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: 2010–2016 (2020) Canada Communicable Disease Report 46(4) Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7145431/