Surveillance of laboratory exposures to human pathogens and toxins: Canada 2017.

Abstract

Under Canada's Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and Human Pathogens and Toxins Regulations, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is mandated with monitoring laboratory incident notifications through the Laboratory Incident Notification Canada (LINC) surveillance system. The year 2017 marks the second complete year of data. To describe the laboratory exposure and laboratory-acquired infection incidents that occurred in Canada in 2017 by sector, human pathogens and toxins involved, number of affected persons, incident type and root causes. The incidents included in the analysis occurred between January 1 and December 31, 2017. They were reported by laboratories with active licences to PHAC through the LINC surveillance system. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used for basic descriptive statistics. A total of 44 exposure and laboratory-acquired infection incidents were reported to the LINC in 2017. Compared by sector and their respective shares of licences, the number of incidents was highest in the academic and hospital sectors compared with government laboratories and private industry. Altogether 118 people were exposed for an average of 2.7 people per incident (range of 1-29). There were no reports of secondary exposure. Six exposure incidents (14%) led to "suspected" (n=5) or confirmed (n=1) cases of laboratory-acquired infection. Although overall, risk group (RG)2 human pathogens and toxins were involved in the majority of incidents (n=23; 52%), Francisella tularensis (n=4; 9%) and Coccidioides immitis (n=3; 7%) were the most frequently involved in reported exposure incidents. These two pathogens are both RG3 and security-sensitive biological agents (SSBAs). An average of 2.3 root causes were identified per incident (n=101). Problems with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and human error were the two most common causes. The incidence of laboratory exposure incidents was relatively low in 2017. The most common route of exposure was through inhalation and the most common root causes were problems with SOPs and human error. Since this is a new surveillance system, baseline estimates are still being established.