News

HIV and STI testing updates

Updated Testing Algorithm for HIV Diagnostic Serology

The Public Health Ontario Laboratory (PHOL) testing algorithm for HIV Diagnostic Serology was updated in September 2024.

In Ontario, any HIV diagnostic serology samples that screen reactive undergo confirmatory testing. A confirmatory antibody test is performed first, and if positive, results are reported as positive. If the confirmatory antibody test is negative, indeterminate, or untypable, specimens now undergo HIV-1/HIV-2 PCR testing. HIV...

Read more

Online CME: Ongoing Registration for 2SLGBTQ Foundations and more, Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO)

Provider

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO), a program of Sherbourne Health.

Foundations RHO remains the only government-funded program in Canada dedicated to improving 2SLGBTQ health outcomes. 2SLGBTQ communities face specific health challenges and barriers to accessing care. RHO offers training for healthcare and social service providers to increase their clinical and cultural competency in caring for their 2SLGBTQ service users.

• Online, always available: 2SLGBTQ...

Read more

Professional Resources & Development Opportunities

1. Influenza and Respiratory Infection Surveillance Resources 2024-25, Public Health Ontario (PHO), variety of new and updated resources, including:
   • Update to the Ontario Respiratory Virus Tool (ORVT) to provide more comprehensive data on respiratory virus activity in Ontario for the 2024-2025 season (updated weekly on Fridays at 11:30 a.m., with data up until the previous Saturday)
   • Updated Integrated Respiratory Virus Risk Indicators surveillance report.
   • New best-practice resource, developed by the...
     
     

Read more

Radon Testing: An Important Health Check for Patients Who Smoke

November is Radon Action Month. Radon is a ubiquitous invisible, odourless and tasteless radioactive gas found naturally in the ground and it can enter into homes through cracks, vents and drains in the lowest level of a home. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer (after smoking) and the leading cause of lung cancer for people who have never smoked.

People who smoke – and people regularly exposed to second-hand smoke – who also have long-term exposure to elevated levels of radon have a...

Read more

Registration Open: 74th Annual Refresher Course For Family Physicians, University of Ottawa

Provider

University of Ottawa’s Office of Continuing Professional Development

This comprehensive course is designed to provide family physicians and other health-care providers with relevant and recent information about approaches to the diagnosis and management of conditions across the breadth of family medicine in both rural and urban settings. Each day consists of a combination of lectures and workshop sessions designed specifically for family physicians and healthcare providers which...

Read more