IMPACT

• IMPACT is an active, hospital-based surveillance system at 12 children’s hospitals across Canada. Each hospital employs a nurse monitor to actively seek target conditions.
• Sponsored by Public Health Agency of Canada, since 1992
• Operated by Canadian Pediatric Society
• Covers more than 90 percent of tertiary-care pediatric beds (those normally found in children’s hospitals)

• Screens every acute neurological admission (more than 1,500/yr) for recent immunization
• Post-immunization events such as local reactions, thrombocytopenia, allergic reaction
• Certain vaccine preventable diseases

• While thousands of neurological cases have been screened, few are attributable to prior vaccination. Surveillance continues to reassure the public that vaccines are safe and that the benefits of vaccination for parents and children far outweigh the potential risks of serious reactions.
• Gathering information on cases of selected infections—such as pertussis (whooping cough), certain types of meningitis and blood infections with Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, and varicella and zoster virus (chickenpox and shingles)—helps determine the severity of these infections and assess the benefits of new vaccines.
• More information at http://www.cps.ca/English/surveillance/IMPACT/IMPACT.htm
  

Updated 15 Mar 2012