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The Study

Since 2024, we have been conducting a study entitled Étude québécoise sur l'incidence de l'infection à CMV chez les éducatrices de la petite enfance, et développement de stratégies de prévention des infections: EDUQ-CMV (Quebec study on the incidence of CMV infection among early childhood educators, and development of infection prevention strategies), in order to design specific strategies for preventing CMV infection and share them with early childhood workplaces.

Les objectifs 

The simultaneous collection of qualitative and quantitative data will enable the results to be integrated to better inform prevention strategies. Each stage of the project will be developed under the guidance of a Community Advisory Board (CAB), made up of daycare educators, daycare managers, ASSTSAS representatives and patient-partners. By representing the interests of community stakeholders, the CAB will contribute to decision-making on study materials, recruitment strategy and knowledge transfer.

  • Assess daycare workers' knowledge and opinions about CMV infection and CMV prevention behaviors.

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  • Determine the incidence of primary and non-primary CMV infection, and associated risk factors, among daycare workers compared with controls.

Exposure group: daycare workers/educators.

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Control group: HÉMA-Q plasma donors and support staff at one of the three participating hospitals, matched according to postal code, ethnic origin and presence of a child under 3 at home.

QUANTITATIVE SECTION: COHORT STUDY

Procedure 

  • 1st visit (V0): socio-demographic, knowledge and practices questionnaire + saliva (educators and support staff only) and blood (or plasma) collection.

  • 11 monthly self-collections of saliva at home with short questionnaire (educators and support staff only).

  • 2nd visit at 1 year (V12): collection of saliva (educators and support staff only) and blood (or plasma), and questionnaires.

Laboratory

Analysis

  • CMV qPCR (saliva and plasma)

  • CMV serologies: IgG, IgM, avidity 

  • “CMV Scan": an advanced serology technique enabling complete serological profiling using a phage display library that we have adapted to identify all antibodies directed against all sequenced CMV strains/variants.

Participants are recruited from the Montreal/Laval, Quebec City and Sherbrooke areas.

Our study group will be composed of:

  • 546 educators recruited from CPEs, family daycares and private daycares

  • 550 hospital support workers

  • 1100 Héma-Québec plasma donors

Sample size

  • A purposive convenience sample of daycare staff and daycare managers/administrators will be recruited via social media platforms and/or email mailings.

  • Individual interviews will be conducted in French or English, to document the attitudes and experiences of daycare workers and managers regarding CMV infection.

QUALITATIVE SECTION: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

In the short term, following a better assessment of the risk of CMV infection for childcare workers in Quebec and its risk factors, this project will lead to the implementation of specific prevention measures.

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We believe it will also increase awareness of congenital CMV infection among daycare workers and the general public.

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We think this will also help to:

  • Improve publicity for methods of preventing CMV infection. 

  • Reduce the incidence of congenital CMV infection in Quebec in the long term.

  • Finally, this research project could lead to further collaborations on the dynamics of CMV infection in daycare settings. 

Objectives

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EDUQ-CMV is funded by Moderna Canada. An investment of $5.9 million was made in 2024 to enable this study to be carried out.

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