Alberta Health Officials Report Syphilis Outbreak Province-Wide

Health officials in Alberta report a syphilis outbreak across the province after rates of badually transmitted infections rose last year to record levels since 1948.

Alberta Health Services reports that a total of 1,536 cases of infectious syphilis were reported in 2018, up from 161 in 2014, a ten-fold increase.

Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer of Alberta, said syphilis rates had jumped 187% between 2017 and 2018.

She added that Alberta health services expect higher numbers for this year.

Hinshaw says the province has experienced similar rates of conbad syphilis in which the infection is pbaded from a mother to her unborn child.

She added that a Provincial Outbreak Coordinating Committee should be established to determine how to increase the number of badually transmitted disease tests, raise awareness and reduce the total number of cases of syphilis in Alberta.

Hinshaw says she can not comment on the comparison between Alberta and the rest of the country, because other countries have not published recent statistics on syphilis.

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