Sexually transmitted diseases are exploding in Algoma with rates much higher than Ontario for gonorrhoeal infections and syphilis, including congenital syphilis, passed to offspring, which is 18 times higher.
Algoma Public Health will present this for budget deliberations on Monday at city council and it is noting that because of pandemic measures that shifted attention of staff and resources, less than 50 per cent of routine work was being conducted.
The result is that non-highest risk programs have been sidetracked, which has led to a service backlog for programs like smoking cessation, inspections, oral health preventative clinics, routine immunizations, sexual health promotion, mental health promotion, local opioid surveillance, etc.
The rate of influenza cases in Algoma (51.9 per 100,000 people) as of October 5th, 2022 is approximately 4.7 times higher than the rate of cases in Ontario (11.1 per 100,000 people).
The rate of Hepatitis C infections in Algoma (29.9 per 100,000 people) for 2022, as of October 5th, 2022, is approximately 2.3 times higher than the rate of infections for Ontario (13.0 per 100,000 people in Ontario).
The incidence rate of gonorrhoeal infections in 2022 (63.3 out of 100,000 people), as of October 5th, 2022, is 4 times higher when compared 2020 (15.7 per 100,000 people).
The incidence rate for infectious syphilis cases in Algoma in 2022 (7 per 100,000 people), as of October 5th, 2022, was 2.7 times higher when compared 2020 (2.6 per 100,000 people).
The incidence rate for early congenital syphilis cases in Algoma in 2022, as of October 5th, 2022, is 1.8 per 100,000 people. This is 18 times higher than the incidence rate of early congenital syphilis in Ontario or 0.1 per 100,000, as of October 5th, 2022. There were no cases for the last ten years (as of 2012) in Algoma.
