Canada almost wiped out syphilis. Now rates are skyrocketing — as more women, infants getting infectedhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/health/syphilis-canada-skyrocketing-1.7123968The crisis is Canada-wide. In Ontario, rates hit their highest level in 2022 at nearly 24 cases per 100,000 people, with a year-end tally of more than 3,500 infections. (That's close to the same number of cases reported across the entire country in 2016.)
The proportion of infections among men who only have sex with women, and women who only have sex with men, has risen dramatically during the same five-year span — with those two groups now making up the vast majority of all syphilis infections in B.C., jumping from 14 per cent of the grand total in 2018 to 65 per cent last year.
He called that a "devastating, preventable" outcome. (Syphilis caught during someone's pregnancy through a prenatal screening can be treated with a basic regimen of penicillin.)
Shifts in sexual practices may be fuelling STI riseWhile vulnerable communities may be more at risk, several experts suspect shifts in overall sex practices are partially fuelling syphilis's comeback.
The rise of online dating apps, resulting in more people having multiple sexual partners, is one leading theory. A trend toward more oral sex could also be playing a role, said O'Byrne from Ottawa Public Health, who stressed that people think it's safer because it's not a likely transmission route for HIV, even though it's a common transmission route for syphilis.
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