The Health Unit's Diseases of Public Health Significance Form (DOC) outlines the communicable diseases that must be reported by physicians, laboratories, administrators of hospitals, schools and institutions to the local Medical Officer of Health (as stated in Ontario Regulation 135/18 and Reg. 569 under the Health Protection and Promotion Act R.S.O. 1990, Chapter H.7). The Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) explicitly allows health care providers to disclose information to the local Medical Officer of Health for purposes outlined under the HPPA.
Monkeypox Information for Health Professionals
Effective June 16, 2022, monkeypox has been designated a Disease of Public Health Significance (DOPHS) as “Smallpox and other Orthopoxviruses including Monkeypox” under the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA).
Healthcare providers are now required to immediately report (including evenings and weekends) all probable and confirmed cases of Monkeypox directly to the local Medical Officer of Health.
For more information, please follow the links below to read the memo from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, as well as the relevant case definitions and disease-specific information in the Provincial Infectious Disease Protocol.
The following is a list of Diseases of Public Health Significance that must be reported to the local Medical Officer of Health within the prescribed timelines for reporting.
(Confirmed and Suspect Cases and Outbreaks)
Immediate reporting is required for the following diseases due to the need for public health follow-up. Immediate reporting is also required: a) For clusters of any reportable diseases and b) When the Health Unit issues an alert requesting immediate reporting.
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Anthrax |
Meningococcal disease, invasive |
|
Botulism |
Mumps |
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Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) |
|
|
Cholera |
Paratyphoid Fever |
|
Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD) outbreaks in public hospitals |
Pertussis |
|
Coronavirus (Novel Coronavirus) |
Plague |
|
Diphtheria |
Poliomyelitis, acute |
|
Food poisoning, all causes |
Psittacosis/Ornithosis |
|
Gastroenteritis, outbreaks in institutions and public hospitals |
Rabies |
|
Group A Streptococcal Disease, invasive |
Respiratory infection outbreaks in institutions and public hospitals |
|
Haemophilus influenza disease, all types, invasive |
Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome |
|
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome |
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) |
|
Hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola and Marburg Virus Disease, Lassa Fever & other viral causes |
Shigellosis |
|
Hepatitis A |
Smallpox and other Orthopoxviruses including Monkeypox |
|
Influenza (health care facility cases) |
Tuberculosis |
|
Influenza (Novel, not seasonal) |
Tularemia |
|
Legionellosis |
Typhoid Fever |
| Measles |
Verotoxigenic-producing E. coli infection indicator conditions, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) |
|
Meningitis, acute: bacterial, viral and other causes |
- |
(Confirmed and Suspect Cases)
|
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) |
Hepatitis C |
|
Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) |
Influenza (Community cases)- |
|
Amebiasis |
Leprosy |
|
Anaplasmosis |
Listeriosis |
|
Babesiosis |
Lyme Disease |
| Blastomycosis |
Ophthalmia neonatorum |
|
Campylobacter enteritis |
Pneumococcal disease (Streptococcus pneumoniae), invasive |
| Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), colonization or infection | Powassan Virus |
| Chancroid |
Q fever |
|
Chickenpox, varicella |
Salmonellosis |
|
Chlamydia trachomatis infections |
Syphilis |
| Cryptosporidiosis | Tetanus |
| Cyclosporiasis |
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (e.g. CJD) |
| Echinococcus multilocularis infection |
Trichinosis |
| Encephalitis primary viral, post-infectious, vaccine-related, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and unspecified | West Nile Virus |
|
Giardiasis (except asymptomatic cases) |
Yersiniosis |
|
Gonorrhoea |
|
|
Group B Streptococcal disease, neonatal |
|
| Hepatitis B |
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Due to increasing number of cases in the province, please be advised that as of January 1, 2018, amendments to O.Reg. 557 (Communicable Diseases – General) under the Health Protection and Promotion Act came into force, which now require veterinarians and directors of veterinary laboratories to report the following animal cases to Middlesex-London Health Unit:
To report any of the above, please complete the Veterinary Reportable Disease Form (DOC) and fax to the Middlesex-London Health Unit at 519-663-8241 or call the Health Unit directly at 519-663-5317.
