A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enable simultaneous exchange and comparison of information between national laboratories to speed up response times and capacities when managing infectious disease outbreaks was signed by Canada’s health minister Ujjal Dosanjh and United States Ambassador David Wilkins here.

PulseNet USA and PulseNet Canada are virtual laboratory networks with central national databases housed at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. The connection of both databases through the MOU permits real-time comparisons of the genetic fingerprints of bacteria as they are generated in different laboratories across North America, a Health Canada release said here.

In Winnipeg for a demonstration of PulseNet, Minister Dosanjh said, “We learned from SARS that timely, seamless communication across all jurisdictions is critical to manage and reduce the transmission of infectious disease. By speeding up response times, this laboratory surveillance system can save lives, reduce health care costs and reduce the economic impacts of infectious disease outbreaks.”

Ambassador Wilkins noted, “We know that infectious diseases do not respect borders. This MOU strengthens laboratory capacities that are critical to the international management and response to infectious disease outbreaks.”

PulseNet allows for the rapid exchange of data among laboratories, epidemiologists, hospitals, physicians and other public health professionals. With the threat of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks and potential for bioterrorism, the ability to rapidly identify infectious agents and clusters of disease is the key to international public health response.

According to the release, the MOU signed here is a major step forward for the surveillance and response capacity of both countries, and an important partnership that will help protect the health of our citizens. This is part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a trilateral agenda to increase the security, prosperity, and quality of life in North America.