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Context. In the United States (US) and Europe, surveillance based on calls to poison control centres has identified new hazards and evolving exposure trends. In Canada, the value of poison control centre calls as a tool for health hazard surveillance is largely unrecognized. Objectives. This preliminary survey was undertaken to describe current operational characteristics and surveillance capacities at Canadian poison control centres and to determine potential for developing a Canadian poison control centre collaborative network. Methods. A structured quantitative-qualitative survey was administered to medical directors and clinical supervisors at the five Canadian poison control centres between March and May, 2012. Results. All five Canadian poison control centres operate 24/7 with each serving more than one province/territory. Annual call volumes range from 10,000 to 58,000. Data analysis is limited to detection of previously unrecognized hazards and short-term event-based adverse health monitoring. Currently no centre maintains systematic ongoing collection, integration and analysis of data. Constraints on personnel, resources and funding were identified as barriers to increasing capacity to provide and analyse call data. Conclusions. The potential exists to use Canadian poison control data as a novel source of public health surveillance. That they serve as sentinels for new or unexpected exposure events, have real-time electronic call-record capacity and demonstrate an interest in developing and sharing their call-record information supports their integration into existing public health networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in raising chickens in urban settings across North America. Current regulations on backyard chickens vary by jurisdiction due to concerns about perceived health threats. Proposed negative impacts on public health and community well-being include infectious diseases acquired through rearing practices or consumption of eggs, inappropriate waste management, interaction with pests and predators and nuisance factors such as noise and odour. Proposed benefits are derived largely from the human-animal bond and from feelings of autonomy over food selection. The importance or validity of claims of positive and negative effects cannot be supported by literature specific to the urban agriculture context. Public health practitioners might approach this issue in a manner analogous to concerns over keeping domestic pets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background High ambient summer temperatures have been shown to influence daily mortality in cities across Europe. Quantification of the population mortality burden attributable to heat is crucial to the development of adaptive approaches. The impact of summer heat on mortality for 15 European cities during the 1990s was evaluated, under hypothetical temperature scenarios warmer and cooler than the mean and under future scenarios derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES). Methods A Monte Carlo approach was used to estimate the number of deaths attributable to heat for each city. These estimates rely on the results of a Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis that combines city-specific heat-mortality functions. Results The number of heat-attributable deaths per summer ranged from 0 in Dublin to 423 in Paris. The mean attributable fraction of deaths was around 2%. The highest impact was in three Mediterranean cities (Barcelona, Rome and Valencia) and in two continental cities (Paris and Budapest). The largest impact was on persons over 75 years; however, in some cities, important proportions of heat-attributable deaths were also found for younger adults. Heat-attributable deaths markedly increased under warming scenarios. The impact under SRES scenarios was slightly lower or comparable to the impact during the observed hottest year. Conclusions Current high summer ambient temperatures have an important impact on European population health. This impact is expected to increase in the future, according to the projected increase of mean ambient temperatures and frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Little attention has been paid to how heat-related health effects vary with the micro-urban variation of outdoor temperatures. This study explored whether people located in micro-urban heat islands are at higher risk of mortality during hot summer days. Methods: Data used included (1) daily mortality for Montreal (Canada) for June-August 1990-2003, (2) daily mean ambient outdoor temperatures at the local international airport and (3) two thermal surface images (Landsat satellites, infrared wavelengths). A city-wide temperature versus daily mortality function was established on the basis of a case-crossover design; this function was stratified according to the surface temperature at decedents' place of death. Results: The risk of death on warm summer days in areas with higher surface temperatures was greater than in areas with lower surface temperatures. Conclusions: This study suggests that measures aimed at reducing the temperature in micro-urban heat islands (eg, urban greening activities) may reduce the health impact of hot temperatures. Further studies are needed to document the variation of heat-related risks within cities and to evaluate the health benefits of measures aimed at reducing the temperature in micro-urban heat islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]