Implications of a "Reportable Disease" in Quebec

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During my recent encounter with gonorrhoea, one of the scary things I learned was that G is a "Reportable Disease" in Quebec. This means that, once you get a confirmed positive test, your doctor is required by law to report your infection to the Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.

The form used for non-STI diseases gives your name, your date of birth, your occupation, and phone number. Apparently gonococcal infections must be reported to the Director of Public Health in the appropriate territory using something called a form AS-771 [EDIT: this form, used for STI's, might not require your name - I can't find a copy of this form online anywhere though]. Chlamydia and herpes are also reportable.

A pamphlet (from November 2002) detailing the responsibilities of physicians and with the reporting form at the end can be viewed here.

Isn't this kind of scary? I can understand there might be some public health value to this, and only hope that the confidentiality of this information is vigorously protected. There is some discussion of "partner notification." Does this mean that, if a married guy tests positive for G, then the public health department might look up his wife's health insurance number and notify her (seems pretty unlikely)?

I have to confess I only know what I read in this pamphlet, which is now seven years old. If anyone has some understanding of the real implications of this and how it currently works in Quebec, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Is this still current practice? Is there any way this can come back to haunt you?

e

 

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Note that I made some edits above - I'm not sure what form is actually used for reporting of Gonorrhea, and whether it actually includes your name.

It might be this one (from the Santé Publique web site), which definitely includes your name and place of work.

e

 

[OnUrGspot]

Note that I made some edits above - I'm not sure what form is actually used for reporting of Gonorrhea, and whether it actually includes your name.

It might be this one (from the Santé Publique web site), which definitely includes your name and place of work.

e

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Where does it say Chlamidya & Genital Herpes is REPORTABLE? Is it a QC GOV web site? If so, what is the web site address?

DA_

 

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What for claims Chlamidya & Herpes is REPORTABLE?

Are you saying this site you quote - http://www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca/Mi/surveillance/mado/pdf/form-listmado.pdf might contain information of INFECTED persons?

DA_

No, I'm not suggesting that the names of infected individuals could be available online, as this would be a gross violation of confidentiality. However it does seem like the Health Department keeps a database with the names of anyone who has been diagnosed with Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, or a bunch of other infectious diseases. I'm sure that the confidentiality of this is all vigorously protected, but I wonder in what cases they use the identifying information.

e

 

[OnUrGspot]

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Where does it say Chlamidya & Genital Herpes is REPORTABLE? Is it a QC GOV web site? If so, what is the web site address?

DA_

This is the reworded version.

DA_

 

[erase]

This is the reworded version.

DA_

Ah - that makes more sense. I realize the information kind of buried in the form.

The form, which is published by the Government of Quebec and which I downloaded from a Government of Quebec web site, is for "Notification of a reportable disease" (or MADO, for Maladie à déclaration obligatoire) by a physician. The form is required for many different types of illness and also different types of poisoning (badly translated as "intoxication" in the English version of the form). On page 2, there is a list of conditions which a physician must report (within 48 hours of diagnosis) to the Regional Director of Public Health - about two thirds of the way down in the middle column you will see "Gonococcal infection". You can also find chlamydia, hepatitis, and a bunch of other things that are not sexually transmitted like Whooping cough and Leprosy.

At the top of page 1, you will see that it includes the Last name and first name of the patient, as well as date of birth, address, phone number, and also your occupation and place of work.

Probably this is innocuous, since your name would go into a huge database among people with whooping cough, measles, and other stuff. I think it is mostly for epidemiological purposes to track trends, but this could be done without including your name. I suppose they are worried that if some superbug ever shows up, they might want to be able to track the carriers down.

Still it's scary that the fact I had an STI will presumably be recorded forever in a government database. However I hope that this won't discourage someone from getting tested or treated if they need it.

e

 

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Seems gonorrhea is not reportable

I was at one of the well-known STI clinics in Montreal this morning for treatment of my gonorrhea. I asked the doc if gonorrhea was a "MADO" (maladie à déclaration obligatoire) and he said no. However he said they are obliged to report syphilis (which thank god I don't have), including your name. They do some reporting of G, but just for epidemiological statistics and don't include your identifying information.

e