Provincial outbreak of syphilis declared by Chief Medical Health Officer

EDMONTON, AB – The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has declared a provincial outbreak of syphilis, after 1,536 cases were reported in 2018; an increase of nearly tenfold since 2014.

There have also been 22 cases of congenital syphilis-where a child is born to a mother with syphilis, between 2014 and 2018.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says rates have not been this high in Alberta since 1948, which is why a coordinating committee made of up stakeholders from across the province has also been initiated to address the causes of the outbreak and identified four “action areas” including primary prevention and health promotion, testing and management, preventing congenital syphilis, and surveillance.

Hinshaw says the biggest increases in infections were in the Edmonton and Northern Health Regions where there were 977 and 208 cases in 2017, an increase of 305 per cent and 324 per cent respectively.

The South Health Zone saw one of the smallest increases, with 31 new cases in 2018, or a 138.5 per cent jump compared with 2017. Calgary came in with just a seven percent increase from 2017.

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Hinshaw says the STI is affecting all demographics, but one in particular is being hit harder than others.

“We see numbers highest in the younger age range, so, from 15 to 29. But again, all ages are represented. So, we’re looking at – those who would be overrepresented – would be individuals in that 15 to 29-year-old age group. And we see those who often have other challenges in their life. So, there are some risk factors such as individuals who are street involved or don’t have the social underpinnings that help them perhaps give them the resources to protect themselves.”

More than 60 per cent of all infections across the province affect males, and of those, 31 per cent are between the ages of 20 and 29. However she says there isn’t one factor alone that’s contributing to the outbreak.

“Syphilis cases are sharply rising in many jurisdictions, not just our own…there’s not one single factor, but as people have multiple sex partners and are not using protection, and infection like syphilis that once was quite rare, if it gets into some of those networks it can spread quite quickly.”

Hinshaw says some of the symptoms of syphilis may include a painful ulcer at the point of infection. During a secondary stage, other symptoms can include fever and exhaustion. In late stages the infection can affect the heart, the brain- with dementia, and eyesight.

It’s not clear at this point how Alberta compares with the rest of the country because the province is releasing 2018 statistics. Much of the information that would be comparable from other provinces dates back farther than 2018, however B.C.’s numbers have also been increasing since 2010.

From 2017 B.C.’s latest indication was that the rate per 100,000 was 14.2, while Alberta’s rate in 2017 was 19.5.