This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Syphilis rates are soaring to near-record levels across the Prairies, and Alberta has declared a provincewide outbreak of the sexually transmitted infection, but data from the federal public-health agency does not show the scope of the problem.
“The trajectory has gone substantially higher,” said Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief public-health officer. “We haven’t seen numbers like this in our recent history. We see it in every region in our province. The hardest hit areas are the core of Winnipeg and the northern region.” “The availability of national data depends on reporting from multiple sources. The Public Health Agency of Canada validates data received to ensure our reports are accurate. It is not uncommon for national reports to be based on previous years’ data,” the agency said in a statement.
“We need more of these kinds of active surveillance to help understand what's happening when these outbreaks occur, which requires funding and political will. We do this often for food-borne illnesses, but it is not something that we've done as much of in sexual health,” he said. Less than 20 years ago, syphilis seemed close to eradication, with cases across Canada falling to the low hundreds because of successful safe-sex campaigns and easy access to antibiotics. Since then, syphilis has made a comeback and is closing in on infection rates not seen since the 1940s.