Table 2 Themes and contributing factors identified

Knowledge and process

Public health experience

▪ How public health experience influences enteric illness investigations (e.g. methodology, education)

Access to healthcare

▪ Influential factors that affect the availability of healthcare (e.g. remote location, language barrier, under-reporting)

Risk factors

Travel

▪ International travel and domestic travel

Food handling

▪ Food handler

▪ Cross contamination

▪ Temperature control, undercooked food and time in storage

▪ Food choices: fresh produce, raw milk, deli meats, soft cheeses, sea food

Industry

▪ The farm-to-fork continuum: all production stages of food (i.e. slaughter, processing, packaging, retail)

Water

▪ Recreational activities: swimming, camping, canoeing, hiking

▪ Drinking contaminated surface water or well water

Geography

▪ Climate and seasonality

▪ Spatial factors: urban versus rural, postal code

Susceptibility factors

Demographics

▪ Biological factors: age, gender, immune-compromised, co-morbidity

▪ Work and home environment factors: occupation, socio-economic status, living conditions, education, university residence, daycare, long-term care facility

Behaviours

▪ Mass gatherings

▪ Person-to-person (e.g. MSM)

▪ Culture: defined as shared experiences, values, and traditions

▪ Ethnicity: defined as country of origin

▪ Rituals/traditions: food handling practices passed down from generations

▪ Animal contact: petting zoos/farms, domestic pets, wildlife reserves

▪ Food preferences: cultural foods, traditional foods (e.g. aboriginal hunting), smoked foods

▪ Personal hygiene practices (e.g. hand-washing)