Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network

The Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network (CAHSN) is a network of federal, provincial, and university animal health laboratories across Canada. It is an example of how collaboration and innovation provide improved early detection and rapid response to animal disease threats and help minimize risks to animal health, public health and Canada's economy. The central reference laboratory for the network operates from the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network provides:

  • an integrated federal-provincial-university laboratory network to diagnose serious animal infectious diseases
  • an early warning surveillance system for animal disease threats to animal health, human health and the security of the food supply
  • a common information-sharing platform to link federal and provincial animal health agencies and departments of human health. To ensure consistency and ease of use, the platform used is the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence (CNPHI) which is the same secure information-sharing platform used by the National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

Building diagnostic capability

Analysts from network laboratories across Canada have received training from the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease on how to use standardized testing protocols to detect four major foreign animal diseases:

Collaboration in action

To quickly manage avian influenza outbreaks in 2016, 2015, 2009 and 2007, CAHSN laboratories in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario conducted testing on behalf of the CFIA.

The laboratory technical support and quality assurance programs established for Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network ensure consistency in the quality and delivery of diagnostic work done in the laboratories by:

  • developing standardized testing methods and consistent procedures
  • enhancing biosecurity in the network laboratories across Canada
  • building laboratory equipment and reagents
  • providing training
  • offering certification panels
  • helping develop and maintain internal quality management systems for testing related to foreign animal diseases and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation
  • helping to develop testing for other (non-foreign) animal diseases, including:
  • conducting table-top exercises to enhance CAHSN laboratory preparedness during a national animal health emergency

Collaborative surveillance

Working collaboratively, the laboratories are able to collect national animal health information and coordinate their work so they can consistently and quickly respond to potential animal disease outbreaks. Examples of their collaborative efforts include the following:

  • collecting test information on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie and chronic wasting disease
  • responding to potential outbreaks by coordinating the collection of laboratory data for specific diseases of interest
  • developing innovative technology to support syndromic surveillance. This is a collection of disease or animal health information related to laboratory tests performed by the CAHSN laboratories that is automatically collected in real-time and analysed to detect any potential disease trends
  • collaborating with CAHSN laboratories to improve national coordination of surveillance for important endemic diseases of farmed livestock

Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network Partners

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