Abstract
During pregnancy, a woman’s immune system is compromised and she is at an increased risk of infection and illness. In particular, the risk of contracting foodborne listeriosis is 20 times greater for pregnant women than for other women of reproductive age. Considering the negative effects of listeriosis on the developing fetus and that more than 380,000 babies were born in Canada in 2010, listeriosis is an important public health concern.
And yet, in Canada, it is not clear who is responsible for educating pregnant women on the importance of safe food handling and the avoidance of high-risk foods. Not all women attend prenatal education classes and the circle of care during pregnancy is highly variable. Physicians, however, are very often included in the care circle and may represent a consistent, reliable and trustworthy source of food safety information. At present, only one province has prenatal records that prompt physicians to counsel pregnant women on food safety issues, though all include some assessment of nutrition, diet or supplement use. Improving provincial and territorial prenatal records may be one important way of helping to ensure that critical food safety information is reaching pregnant Canadians.
Key words: Food safety, health policy, listeriosis, pregnancy complications, infectious, professional role
Résumé
Durant la grossesse, le système immunitaire de la femme est affaibli, et elle court un risque accru de contracter des infections et des maladies. En particulier, le risque de toxi-infection alimentaire à listeria chez les femmes enceintes est 20 fois supérieur à celui des autres femmes en âge de procréer. Étant donné que la listériose nuit au développement du foetus et qu’il y a eu plus de 380 000 naissances au Canada en 2010, les infections à listeria sont un important problème de santé publique.
Pourtant, au Canada, personne n’est clairement responsable de sensibiliser les femmes enceintes à l’importance de manipuler les aliments de façon sécuritaire et d’éviter ceux qui présentent un risque élevé. Toutes les femmes ne s’inscrivent pas aux classes d’enseignement prénatal, et leur cercle de soins durant la grossesse varie beaucoup. Les médecins, toutefois, sont très souvent inclus dans ce cercle de soins et pourraient être une source d’informations cohérentes, fiables et dignes de foi sur la salubrité des aliments. Pour l’instant, une seule province tient des dossiers prénatals qui incitent les médecins à offrir aux femmes enceintes des conseils sur la salubrité des aliments, bien que toutes incluent une forme d’évaluation de l’état nutritionnel, du régime ou de la prise de suppléments nutritifs. Améliorer les dossiers prénatals provinciaux et territoriaux pourrait être un très bon moyen de faire en sorte que les Canadiennes enceintes reçoivent l’information essentielle sur la salubrité des aliments.
Mots clés: salubrité des aliments, politique sanitaire, infections à listeria, complications infectieuses de la grossesse, rôle professionnel
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
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