Investigation of an outbreak of group A Streptococcus in a Regina retirement residence and personal care home, 2018

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus) is a common bacterium that causes infections ranging from minor illnesses, like strep throat, to life-threatening invasive disease. The elderly are particularly at risk of invasive infection, with this risk compounded by living in communal settings, including long-term care facilities or personal care homes. Following the identification of five invasive group A streptococcal infections in residents of a Regina retirement residence and personal care home over a period of five months, an outbreak was declared on May 8, 2018. Over the 10 weeks the outbreak lasted, 10 cases were diagnosed, attributable to nine individuals: six residents and three staff. Five of the 10 cases (50%) were invasive, all of which required hospitalization. The predominant emm type was 92 – a type not common in Canada. Interventions, including onsite inspections, weekly surveillance, hand hygiene and environmental cleaning improvements, as well as mass screening for carriage of group A Streptococcus were carried out in collaboration with the personal-care home. Mitigating outbreak risks in private retirement residences and personal care homes requires that facilities establish robust infection control programs, including hand hygiene and effective environmental cleaning, and work collaboratively with Public Health officials to address outbreaks.

An Investigation of Variation in Brand Growth and Decline across Categories

This study investigates the variation in brand growth and decline across many different product categories. It uses recent consumer panel data from the UK, covering 639 brands across 28 categories, including food, personal care, home care and pet food, over a five-year period from 2008 to 2012. Consistent with the literature, the study finds that most brands in the consumer packaged goods market are stationary, as only 14% of the brands change their market share by more than three points. However, the study discovers that some categories are more dynamic than others. The percentage of brands that change their share by more than three points is different across the categories, varying from 0% to 44%. The study further examines some potential factors that can affect the variation and finds that category penetration and purchase frequency have significant effects on the variation. The lower the category penetration and category purchase frequency, the lower the brand share stationarity. On the other hand, proportion of sales on promotion in the category and new SKU introductions do not have a significant effect on the variation.