Governmental action

How is public health being protected?

Government’s public health measures for the 2008 West Nile virus (WNV) prevention season

Fortunately, the most recent epidemiological data on WNV show decreased activity and low endemicity of this virus in Quebec. As it did last year, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux will be taking a minimum level of action over the summer.

Consequently, we are planning to ease our measures against WNV considerably, limiting them to epidemiological monitoring of human cases through the Regulation under the Public Health Act regarding reportable diseases, along with an information campaign on personal and community preventative measures.

Medical precautions

Authorities are also controlling the risk of infection through organ transplants and blood transfusions. Héma-Québec and Québec-Transplant select their donors with extreme care. All blood donations are now tested, and blood that contains WNV is not used.