Rusk Lauren, Forrest Russell, Hamel Meghan
Centre for Food-Borne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, ON.
Can Commun Dis Rep. 2025 May 1;51(5):160-166. doi: 10.14745/ccdr.v51i05a02. eCollection 2025 May.
Millions of Canadians contract enteric illnesses each year, many of which are acquired during, or are otherwise associated with, international travel. As the number of Canadians travelling fluctuates throughout the year, a corresponding change in the number of travel-acquired enteric illnesses was expected. A change in the number of travel-acquired enteric illnesses was also expected during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
This study aims to explore trends in the number and distribution of select travel-acquired enteric infections in Canada, from May 2017 to April 2023.
To evaluate trends, Student's t-tests and negative binomial regression modelling were conducted. Percent changes and relative risks were calculated to assess the impact of the pandemic on travel-acquired enteric illnesses.
Findings demonstrated a seasonal peak in the number of reported travel-acquired enteric illnesses during the winter and spring pre- and post-pandemic travel restrictions (May 2017-February 2020 and September 2021-April 2023). Additionally, there was a decrease in the number of travel-acquired enteric illnesses added to enteric illness travel clusters with cases in more than one province or territory (multi-jurisdictional) during and after the lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, cases reported post-travel restrictions had a higher risk of being added to a multi-jurisdictional enteric illness travel cluster compared to the pre-travel restriction phase.
Nonessential travel restrictions and changes in the healthcare-seeking behaviours due to the pandemic likely account in part for the change in the number of travel-acquired enteric illnesses observed while travel restrictions were implemented and after they were lifted. Further research is required to explain the increased risk of illnesses being added to multi-jurisdictional enteric illness travel clusters after the lifting of travel restrictions compared to pre-COVID-19.
每年有数百万加拿大人感染肠道疾病，其中许多是在国际旅行期间感染的，或者与国际旅行有关。由于全年加拿大人出行人数波动，预计旅行获得性肠道疾病的数量也会相应变化。在新冠疫情限制措施期间，旅行获得性肠道疾病的数量预计也会发生变化。
本研究旨在探讨2017年5月至2023年4月加拿大特定旅行获得性肠道感染的数量和分布趋势。
为评估趋势，进行了学生t检验和负二项回归建模。计算百分比变化和相对风险，以评估疫情对旅行获得性肠道疾病的影响。
研究结果表明，在疫情前和疫情后冬季和春季旅行限制期间（2017年5月至2020年2月以及2021年9月至2023年4月），报告的旅行获得性肠道疾病数量出现季节性高峰。此外，在新冠疫情旅行限制解除期间及之后，添加到涉及一个以上省份或地区（多辖区）病例的肠道疾病旅行集群中的旅行获得性肠道疾病数量有所减少。然而，与旅行限制前阶段相比，旅行限制后报告的病例被添加到多辖区肠道疾病旅行集群中的风险更高。
非必要旅行限制以及疫情导致的就医行为变化可能部分解释了在实施旅行限制期间和解除旅行限制后观察到的旅行获得性肠道疾病数量的变化。需要进一步研究来解释与新冠疫情前相比，旅行限制解除后疾病被添加到多辖区肠道疾病旅行集群中的风险增加的原因。
