As a physician you have to report harmful communicable diseases, particularily where prevention and awareness will make a difference.
E. coli outbreaks are a more publicized example of this, where the public is notified so that those potentially exposed and manifesting suspicious symptoms, will present sooner to health care than they may have otherwise. On these grounds, if the public health officer deems it appropriate to warn the public, their mandate is to release this information in a timely manner.
Interestingly, even the more common infections of gonnorhea & chlamydia are supposed to be reported to the provincial infection control office, in the name of public health.
It may have been reported as voluntary, but the truth of the matter is that if they refused to disclose, it would have been made public anyways by health region. This allows them to save face. Not to mention it's in their interest to release this information to ward off future lawsuits because they did not warn the public when it "could" have made a difference.
I don't have a link, but if you don't believe me you can go to medical school too.
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Extreme Q Vaporizer