Canada: infectious syphilis rate has more than quadrupled in ten years

Sexually transmitted infections are rising markedly in Canada. That is the finding of 'The State of Public Health in Canada 2026', the report by the country's chief public health officer, Dr Joss Reimer, published at the end of October. The rate of infectious syphilis rose from 6.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2014 to 30.5 in 2023 – more than four times as high; the peak was 36.5 in 2022. Congenital syphilis, which can cause stillbirth and infant death, tripled between 2018 and 2023 from 4.5 to 14.5 cases per 100,000 live births. Reported syphilis cases did fall in 2023, but the report says more data are needed to tell whether this trend will continue.

Chlamydia remains the most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection, with a rate of around 323 cases per 100,000 people in 2023. Reports dipped in 2020 and 2021, probably because less testing took place during the Covid-19 pandemic – they are now rising again. The gonorrhoea rate in 2023, at almost 105 per 100,000, was about three times the 2010 level (33.5). More strains resistant to one or more treatment drugs are also being found. New HIV diagnoses rose every year from 2021 to 2023 and fell slightly in 2024; the 2023 and 2024 rates were the highest in a decade.

Dr Fareen Karachiwalla, medical officer of health for York Region in Ontario, told CTV News about the cases in newborns: 'Seeing babies born with it, which is, definitely alarming (means) we're missing something in pregnancy.' She also pointed to the stigma around talking about how infections are transmitted and stressed: 'Testing closer to community is very critical for helping reduce the spread.'