It's time for a Canada-wide strategy to deal with ailments ranging from the common cold and flu to deadly hospital-acquired infections and the possibility of a pandemic, health experts say.

In one of the most serious examples in recent years, more than 300 cases of SARS were reported in Toronto in 2003. The outbreak claimed 33 lives. 
  
Five organizations representing infectious disease experts and their private sector partners have banded together to release a 12-page document.
  
It calls for a strategy to control infections within hospitals and out in the community.
  
Their call for action is important, they say, because infections acquired in hospitals alone kill 8,000 to 12,000 Canadians a year.
  
It's estimated 250,000 Canadians, or one in nine patients, admitted to hospital each year pick up infections.
  
The groups plan to spend the day, National Infectious Diseases Day, in Ottawa pleading their case to MPs and senators.
  
Dr. Michel Laverdiere, who's with one of the groups, said infectious disease creates a burden on health care.
  
He notes managing one patient with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) costs anywhere from $1,000 to $35,000.