Lambton Public Health (LPH) is doing its part to educate residents about sexually transmitted infections, and to try and curb high rates of infectious syphilis locally.
Dr. Karalyn Dueck provided an update on the efforts at Wednesday's Lambton County Council meeting.
She said there were only two cases in Lambton in 2014, and that jumped to 33 cases in 2023.
Across Ontario, the number of cases rose from 883 to 3,267 during the same time frame.
"Lambton's rate is still slightly higher than Ontario right now," said Dr. Dueck. "There's been a lot of training in our sexual health clinic about how to diagnose and treat syphilis with our MD and Nurse Practitioner who work with us."
Dr. Dueck admitted it's hard to pin point the exact cause of the rise in syphilis rates.
"It is perplexing to see them going up, given that there is effective treatment and lots of education," she said. "We do note, from surveillance from the province, that people who are infected with syphilis tend to have comorbidities including IV drug use or issues accessing care. This may be correlated but I can't say for certain."
Chlamydia continues to be the most common sexually transmitted infection reported in Lambton and Ontario, however Lambton's incidence rates remained below provincial rates between 2014 and 2023.
Hepatitis C cases were higher in Lambton compared to Ontario between 2014 and 2023; however, Lambton rates overall have been decreasing since 2018 and were near provincial rates in 2023.
Dr. Dueck said they continue to offer the sexual health program which is designed to prevent, test, treat, and reduce the burden of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections.
These programs also promote contraception and safer sex, which can prevent unintended pregnancies.
In 2024, LPH dealt with 208 chlamydia cases, 50 hepatitis C cases, 31 gonorrhea cases, 45 syphilis cases and two HIV cases.
Human papillomavirus (“HPV”) condylomata acuminata was the most common non-reportable STI treated at LPH with 54 cases in 2024.
Last year, there were also 1,530 visits to all LPH sexual health clinics.
The most common services provided included counselling, testing, contraceptive starts or refills, barriers (condoms, etc.), treatments and consultations.
The health unit has also been providing sexual health education in LKDSB secondary schools, with materials aligned to the Ministry of Education curriculum, and to community groups upon request.
LPH said there have been improvements to access to health services for vulnerable populations, including people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer two-spirit, intersex, or asexual (“LGBTQ2IA”).
