Looking ahead

In its first year, C-EnterNet will generate reliable data on human enteric disease caused by pathogens from water, agriculture and retail food in the sentinel site community. These results will serve as a benchmark for ongoing monitoring of trends in pathogen movement, behaviour, prevalence and impact. As the surveillance progresses, more exhaustive and systematic information based on laboratory findings will enable improvements of source attribution methods and generate estimates for accurate source attribution. Results and their interpretation will be detailed in the C-EnterNet annual report and in published papers, quarterly newsletters and presentations to public health and industry stakeholders and decision makers.

At the local level, enhanced epidemiological and microbiological training will help public health units respond more effectively and efficiently to public health threats. Provincially and federally, accurate surveillance and source attribution data will be available to inform policy, as well as to evaluate food and water safety programs and intervention strategies.

C-EnterNet's multi-jurisdictional framework includes sentinel sites and working relationships among all levels of public health practice and the community. Through rigorous science and industrious commitment to innovation, this framework offers the potential to break new ground in order to reduce the burden of enteric disease in Canada . In the future, this uniquely integrated structure could also be used to reduce the burden of other diseases, including respiratory illness and possibly pandemic influenza.

Commitment to communication

C-EnterNet's communication mandate includes sharing its results with local, provincial and federal public health partners as well as key stakeholders in the agriculture, retail food and water sectors. Published papers and reports will be presented to

• local councils and committees that recommend operational policies to the local public health units;
• provincial ministries of health, environment and agriculture;
• federal organizations, including Health Canada 's Food Directorate and its Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

Information will also be made available through quarterly newsletters and annual reports. The newsletter, whose first issue will be in the winter of 2006, will cover subjects such as innovations in epidemiology and related learning opportunities, learning from recent outbreaks, and highlights of surveillance studies carried out with public health partners throughout the world.

The first annual report will be published in the fall of 2006. It will include estimates of infection rates and pathogen levels in the sources. In future years, the report will be expanded to include detailed data interpretation and pathogen source attribution using uniquely enhanced methods.