'Push the panic button': Sask. sees surge in syphilis cases

Medical health officers are warning about a spike in syphilis cases in Saskatchewan this year.

“So it’s more or less, trying to push the panic button to enable individuals to know that we are dealing with an outbreak in Saskatchewan,” Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) Medical Health Officer Dr. Nnamidi Ndubuka said.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection spread through direct contact with a sore or rash through unprotected sex.

The most affected age group is people between the ages of 14 to 39; 43 percent male and 57 percent female.

Over 55 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women infected with syphilis reported no condom use as a risk factor, Ndubuka said.

Nearly one in three men and women say sexual contact with a partner with an unknown infection resulted in transmission.

Alcohol use and non-intravenous drug use at the time of transmission were also risk factors.

Ndubuka says part of the strategy to reduce transmission is an awareness campaign NITHA and partner health agencies started in May with information posters and social media posts.

Health agencies are providing information about how to prevent transmission and clinics have increased screening for all sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

In NITHA communities, community health workers have made free condoms more readily accessible in public spaces.

“We also want all communities, outside the province, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to all walk together to reduce transmission,” said Ndubuka.

• Get the CTV News app for Saskatoon area breaking news alerts and top stories 

NITHA serves 33 First Nations communities with a population of 55,000 in central and northern Saskatchewan.

The regional medical health officer for Indigenous Services Canada in Saskatchewan, Dr. Ibrahim Khan, says 411 infectious syphilis cases were diagnosed in on-reserve First Nations communities from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year.

“Syphilis can spread very fast if people are having unprotected sex and there is no access to treatment or care,” said Khan.

That’s a 928 percent increase in cases since the last major spike in 2019 when 40 cases were reported in the same timeframe.

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health says infectious syphilis cases in the province increased to 1,940 last year from 924 in 2020.

ISC says it is working with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and family doctors to provide culturally grounded care to make people feel comfortable seeking screening tests and treatment.

Khan says since the last jump in cases in 2019, there have been six stillbirths due to syphilis and 19 cases of early congenital syphilis cases are under investigation by health officials.

“When you have syphilis and you are not able to seek care and you are not on treatment and for example, if you are a pregnant woman, certainly there are some really deadly consequences and that is that the baby is born with syphilis or the baby is born dead in the womb,” he said.

• Get the CTV News app for Saskatoon area breaking news alerts and top stories 

Treatment of syphilis is publically funded. Khan says a single injection of Benzathine and follow-up care is the typical course of treatment.

Left untreated, syphilis leads to organ and neurological damage and may cause death.

“Indigenous women are the most disadvantaged in terms of access to care in terms of barriers to care, racism, poverty, domestic abuse and violence,” he said.

Symptoms include a rash and lesions in the general area where bodily fluids are exchanged during sexual contact. Symptoms may not always be visible.