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About the researcher

Dr. Frank Plummer is chief science advisor for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and scientific director general of the PHAC's National Microbiology Laboratory. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Order of Manitoba, and a distinguished professor at the University of Manitoba.

Voices From The Community
Preparing for an outbreak

Story by Janet Harvey/Illustrations by Kendyl Lauzon

Newspapers are full of headlines about the H1N1 flu, and many of us are worried about the second wave expected to hit later this fall. But Canada is actually very well prepared, says Dr. Frank Plummer, the man on the front lines of the country's fight against the virus.

In the 1995 movie Outbreak, scientists in serious-looking pressure suits protect themselves and others from contamination while trying to stop an outbreak of a fictional virus. This Hollywood film may be a bit over the top, but the type of scientific work it portrays is real.

Around the world, there are only a few high-security containment labs where scientists don pressure suits to work with the most dangerous of viruses. One of these elite labs is found in Canada: the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. At the helm is Dr. Frank Plummer, the scientist whose name and face are increasingly familiar to Canadians because of his regular media briefings on the status of the H1N1 virus.

The National Microbiology Laboratory is Canada's key lab for the study of human infectious disease. Its scientists conduct research on a range of infectious agents, make vaccines, improve diagnostic tests, and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases—whether a naturally occurring epidemic or a bioterrorism threat. Preparations are currently underway for the Vancouver Olympics, where lab staff will work with the RCMP and the army to provide microbiological expertise for Canada's counterterrorism efforts.

With this kind of resumé, it is no surprise that the lab and its staff also have a leading role in tracking and dealing with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. The lab was among the first in the world to determine the genetic sequence of the 2008 Canadian and Mexican strains of the virus, allowing scientists to develop better tests and explore different treatments. "In the early part of the H1N1 outbreak we played a very important role in identifying the pandemic. It all happened very quickly over the course of a few days," explains Dr. Plummer. The lab also made important contributions in the initial days of the SARS outbreak in 2003 when it was one of the first in the world to isolate the virus that causes SARS—a crucial achievement at the time.

As head of the National Microbiology Laboratory and chief science advisor of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Plummer's leadership has been crucial in managing many threats to public health. But his real claim to fame was established before he ever took up his current work in Winnipeg. Dr. Plummer is world-renowned for his research in Kenya, where he discovered a group of female sex trade workers who are immune to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Dr. Plummer spent 17 years in Africa studying the virus, beginning in the early days of the HIV pandemic. Some of his discoveries—that other sexually transmitted infections could promote the spread of the virus and that male circumcision could protect against it—are now being used around the world to help prevent the spread of the disease. Ongoing research on the women who are HIV-resistant could help lead to the development of HIV vaccines, work in which Dr. Plummer is still actively involved despite his many other responsibilities.

The time in Africa was an eye opener for Dr. Plummer. "I went for a year in 1981, having no idea that it would end up being a large part of my career," he remembers. The revelation was not only that he enjoyed research and was in fact, very good at it, but also that prevention would be paramount in solving the global HIV crisis. "I saw that you have to find ways to prevent disease if you're going to solve the problem. Treating disease case by case is just not possible."

This preventative public health approach is now driving Canada's preparations for a resurgence of H1N1 when flu season hits this fall. "The country is well prepared," says Dr. Plummer. "We have worked very hard over the past 15 years or so to prepare for something like this. We're on track to have the vaccine ready for November, and we should have enough for everyone in the Canadian population who will want it. There are very few countries in the world that have the situation as well in hand as we do."