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Alberta facing gonorrhea, syphilis outbreak

Jan 12, 2017 | 4:11 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — According to Alberta Health, the province is facing an outbreak of two sexually transmitted infections.

The rates for gonorrhea and syphilis continue to rise and are the highest the province has seen since the 1980’s. 

Final numbers have yet to be tallied from 2016 but nearly 3,400 cases of gonorrhea were counted.

There were 75 cases reported in the south zone from January to the end of November. 

There were more than 360 cases of syphilis reported for the province, but Alberta Health said the specific number for our region are too small to report.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Karen Grimsrud said sexually transmitted infections can be hard to track because of how social media and dating sites are used.

“You wouldn’t have necessarily the name of your contact and that’s really what’s making it difficult and at least part of what’s driving this particular outbreak now,” she said over the phone from Edmonton. “If you don’t have a name of your contact, then we can’t do the contact tracing.”

Grimsrud said young, Indigenous women and men who have sex with men are among the highest risk to contract a sexually transmitted infection.