Selected zoonotic pathogens

Selected zoonotic pathogens and diseases from Ontario identified at the AHL, 2016  

Beverly McEwen, Durda Slavic, Davor Ojkic, Hugh Cai, Josepha DeLay, Margaret Stalker, Murray Hazlett, Kristiina Ruotsalo, Jan Shapiro, Andrew Brooks, Felipe Reggeti

Many new, emerging, and re-emerging diseases of people are caused by pathogens originating from animals, or are shared between people and animals. Streptococcus iniae, considered an emerging zoonotic pathogen, was isolated from aquarium cichlids; human infections generally occur through injuries associated with preparing whole fresh fish for cooking. (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/15/12/pdfs/09-0232.pdf) and have been reported in Ontario (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00043200.htm).

The AHL plays an important role in public health by identifying zoonotic pathogens in >1,000 cases annually (Tables 1 and 2). These are numerator data reliant upon submission biases to the diagnostic laboratory and cannot be regarded as population prevalence estimates. Monitoring programs are not included.   AHL

Table 1. Number of cases with selected zoonotic pathogens isolated and/or identified at the AHL, 2016.

Table 2. Leptospira spp. seropositive cases identified at the AHL., 2016.