Public health has agreed to answer our questions, but preferred not to target the place of reporting.
“We do not want to arouse fears in regions unnecessarily. We are really in the stage to validate the information concerning what has been reported to us, ”explains Dr. Guillaume Vandal, doctor of public health and preventive medicine at the Directorate of Public Health of Estrie.
“We are in the preliminary analysis to find out if we hold it, to see if we are going to do a more in -depth investigation.”
Recall that last fall, public health triggered a preliminary survey on the number of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SLA) seeming abnormally high in Val-Saint-François, particularly in the Windsor sector.
The reporting linked to pediatric cancers is not linked to this sector.
When we talk about pediatric cancers, leukemia, brain cancer, nervous system and lymphomas are types of cancer that can be seen more frequently in children from 0 to 17 years old.
However, they are also affected by other types of cancer.
Guillaume Vandal, doctor in public health and preventive medicine at the Directorate of Public Health in Estrie. (Mathieu Lanthier/University of Sherbrooke)
“When we are told several cases of an illness, there is always the stage to validate certain information,” notes Dr Vandal, also responsible for the SLA survey.
Public health must assess whether there is an excess case (or aggregate).
“When we talk about cancer, we tend to think that it is a disease. But in fact, each type of cancer is a different disease. That, in this kind of investigation, it poses a big challenge for us. ”
Each cancer has its risk factors and genetic characteristics.
“If I make the parallel with the SLA investigation, we are focused on a diagnosis,” he image.
The report on pediatric cancers precisely concerns several types of cancer.
“They are varied. You have to go doing a good research work to understand: are there certain types of cancer that can be grouped together? If we have two or three types of cancer, if we look at the risk factors, are they common? ”
Ultimately, note Dr Vandal, the public health team wants to know if there is an environmental cause behind all this.
-The work is to determine whether it is a question of chance or if we find a present risk factor.
“If we see that there is an aggregate, but that there is no environmental source, we simply stop there.”
There can also be aggregates “by chance”, and the way “whose probability distributes things in the territory”, he nuance.
Are there often reports for pediatric cancers?
“In general, it is not something frequent that we are necessarily told,” he observes, stressing that he has no exact figures.
Dr Vandal currently lists three current surveys related to reports, including three for aggregates. This includes the SLA investigation.
It will take several weeks before whether public health triggers an investigation for the reporting of pediatric cancers.
“It is excessively rare that we will find a cause following an aggregate report,” said Dr Vandal, citing in particular epidemiological challenges.
“If there is no environmental cause that exists, there is nothing to do. Many reports will finish from the first step. ”
Dr Vandal cites an American study having identified in 2012 the investigative reports of aggregates (excess of cases) available over a period of 20 years.
Out of 567 cancer aggregates reported, 72 could be confirmed.
Three were able to be associated with an environmental exhibition, while a causal link has been demonstrated in a single case.
The doctor emphasizes that he especially does not want to trivialize the situation with such an example.
“It illustrates that it is very rare that we will find something. But if there is something, we don’t want to miss it […] It is important to approach these files in a methodical way. ”
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