Participate

The TARRANT Viral Watch program is continuously seeking new sentinels (physicians and nurse practitioners) who practice community family medicine in Alberta to expand our surveillance network and contribute larger data sets to Alberta Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the World Health Organization.

Sentinel Responsibilities and Benefits

Responsibilities

  • In Clinic (or in hospital Emergency Departments for rural practitioners whose practice spans both community and hospital) Collect nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs from consenting patients who present with ILI, and complete the study specific laboratory requisition that includes details on the patient’s immunization history, symptoms, and comorbidities.  Then the specimen can be submitted to ProvLab as usual.

Benefits

  • Sentinels will be compensated $30 for every patient swabbed with complete data form.
  • Quick laboratory results, often within 24 hours of arrival at ProvLab.
  • Regular newsletters and bulletins, reporting real-time influenza activity in Alberta.
  • An all-expenses paid trip to the Annual General Meeting that brings together leaders and experts in the fields of virology, public health and influenza.
  • The ability to contribute to influenza surveillance, research publications and worldwide public health efforts.
  • There is no cost to sentinels to participate in TARRANT. All necessary supplies (viral swab kits and requisition forms) are provided by TARRANT and are couriered to the sentinel’s office.

Join Now

If you are a primary care physician or nurse practitioner interested in joining TARRANT Viral Watch, please email us at tarrant@ucalgary.ca or call us at (403) 220-2750. We are happy to provide additional information and answer any questions you may have.

FAQs

What does my office need to do?

Each week:

  • Take nasopharyngeal specimens from all consenting patients presenting with Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and send the samples to Alberta ProvLab.

Can my clinic join as a whole or do all participating sentinels need to enroll separately?

Your clinic can join as a practice and physicians do not have to enroll separately. 

Each sentinel is paid separately, for the full previous calendar year, in February.

Where do I send the specimens?

If you are located south of Red Deer courier to: Alberta Provincial Lab 3030 Hospital Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 4W4 403.944.1200 phone 403.283.0142 fax

If you are located north of Red Deer courier to: Alberta Provincial Lab 8440-112 Street Edmonton, AB T6G 2J2 780.407.7121 phone 780.407.8984 fax

Who pays the shipping costs? 

You should not have to pay for shipping. TARRANT samples are clinical specimens with diagnostic relevance. They are shipped the same way you ship any other lab specimen. The arrangement of where to ship samples is a contracted service with each former health region, courier company, and laboratory. If you are unsure of how to ship samples to the laboratory, please contact TARRANT.

Do the viral transport mediums need to be refrigerated before use?

No, the tubes can be kept at room temperature before they are used. After sampling, it is recommended to keep the samples close to 0°C, either on ice or refrigerated.

How critical is it to get the sample to the lab quickly?

Not critical: the sooner the better, preferably within 24 hours. Virus recovery drops slowly over time; influenza and COVID-19 viruses are fairly stable. If there is a delay in getting the specimen to the lab, virus stability is greater if the sample is kept close to 0°C, either on ice or refrigerated.

How should I dispose of expired tubes?

The viral medium is simply a saline solution with a low concentration of several antibiotics added to inhibit bacterial growth. Therefore, it is non-infectious and can safely be disposed of in the same way as other antibiotic-containing solutions.