[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Kain-Kevin-3.jpg” caption=”Kevin Kain”]A highly multicultural population makes Canada a prime candidate to fall victim to emerging infectious diseases associated with travel, says a clinician-scientist who will be delivering two lectures at McMaster University on Nov. 24.

Kevin Kain, director of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health in Toronto, will be the speaker at the annual Henry and Sylvia Wong Forum in Medicine. He will deliver a scientific lecture at noon, geared towards students, researchers, scientists and health care professionals. A second lecture at 4:30 p.m. will be open to the public.

Kain has worked extensively in areas prone to infectious diseases, including Uganda, Laos, Thailand and the Amazon basin. His research focuses on malaria as well as emerging infectious diseases associated with travel.

His scientific lecture is titled: Fifty years of research and no decrease in deaths from cerebral malaria: What are we doing?

Kain explained that cerebral malaria is a severe form of the disease that affects the brain, and is prevalent mostly in African children. About 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur in Africa and the majority of deaths are among young children.

Although advances in pharmaceuticals and hospital treatment have brought down the number of cases, the death rate among those who do contract cerebral malaria has remained constant at about 30 per cent. Kains scientific lecture will explore future avenues of research needed to determine why this is happening, and how to change the outcome.

He also noted that while the incidence of cerebral malaria is extremely small in Canada, our country in fact has the highest rate per capita of malaria among developed nations. The number of reported cases of imported malaria varies each year, but is usually around 400. However, it's estimated that only 30 to 50 per cent of cases are reported to public health officials, meaning the actual number of cases is much higher.

The public lecture is called: Emerging Infectious Diseases: The big solutions will be small. Kain will explore the threat of infectious diseases that spread from continent to continent, and what can be done to minimize that threat.

“Canada is a lightning rod – we will get zapped when an infectious disease becomes global,” said Kain, who is also the director of the Centre for Travel and Tropical Medicine at Toronto General Hospital and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. “We found that out during the SARS crisis.”

The high number of Canadians who travel overseas, coupled with a diverse ethnic population and large percentage of immigrants coming from developing nations, makes Canada susceptible to emerging infectious diseases that originate in other countries.

He said the answers to stopping the spread of such diseases lies in molecules, and it is crucial that scientific research be focused in this area.

“We can't just sit back and let it happen to us,” said Kain. “It's not going to be big, technological machines in hospitals that will save us. The answers will be molecular.”

Both of Kain's lectures will take place in room 3020 of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery at McMaster University.

This is the second annual Henry and Sylvia Wong Forum in Medicine. The forum was established by the couple, who are both McMaster alumni, for the advancement of research and public education. It features an eminent practitioner or researcher discussing current public issues and interests in medical research.