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Pierre A Pilon

Publications and source records attributed to Pierre A Pilon.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Invasive group A streptococcal infections, clinical manifestations and their predictors, Montreal, 1995-2001.

We identified 306 invasive group A streptococcal infections (IGASI) by passive population-based surveillance in Montreal, Canada, from 1995 to 2001. The average yearly reported incidence was 2.4 per 100,000 persons, with a 14% death rate. Among clinical manifestations, incidence of pneumonia increased from 0.06 per 100,000 in 1995 to 0.50 per 100,000 in 2000. Over a span of 7 years, the odds of developing pneumonia increased (odds ratio [OR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-1.5), while they decreased for soft-tissue infections (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.7-1.0). Serotypes M1 and M3 accounted for 30% of IGASI. However, neither serotype was significantly associated with specific clinical manifestations, which suggests that manifestation development among IGASI might be attributable to host or environmental factors rather than the pathogen. In our study, these factors included age, gender, underlying medical conditions, and living environment, yet none explained temporal changes in risk for pneumonia and soft-tissue infections.

Adolescent↗

[A public health intervention at the time of a case of rabies in Quebec].

BACKGROUND: In the fall of 2000, a nine-year-old child living in Montreal (Québec) died of rabies encephalitis. Cases of human rabies had not been reported in Canada for 15 years. The molecular characterization of viral nucleic acid implicated the Ln/Ps variant associated with the silver-haired bat and the eastern pipistrelle. This article describes and analyzes the intervention carried out by public health. INTERVENTION AND DISCUSSION: The investigation revealed that contact with the bat must have occurred while the child was sleeping. Following the search for close contacts of the reference case, rabies postexposure prophylaxis (RPEP) was recommended to 59 people (3 household contacts, 12 playmates and 44 health care workers). Discussion with other public health departments in the province was important because of the media coverage of this case, which led to a considerable increase in the number of reported exposures to bats and in RPEP administration. CONCLUSION: Lessons learned from this event are that rapid and coordinated action with all stakeholders is essential to the success of this type of public health intervention and that the population must be informed of the risk of rabies transmission from bats.

Animals↗