Have rates of chlamydia in Canada really increased?
In 1991, the rate of reported cases of chlamydia in Canada was around 170 per 100,000 population. In 2019, this rate reached a high for this period, with 371 cases per 100,000 population. However, the rate of reported cases of chlamydia did drop in 2020 to 279 cases per 100,000 population, perhaps due to the social restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that was gripping the nation and the world at this time. Rates of chlamydia have increased for both men and women in Canada, but the infection is more common among women. In 2019, the rate of new cases of chlamydia among Canadian women was 429 per 100,000 population compared to a rate of 311 per 100,000 among men. The provinces or territories with the highest rates of chlamydia are Nunavut, the Northeast Territories, and the Yukon. Although chlamydia can be serious if left untreated and can cause permanent damage to a woman’s reproductive system, it can usually be easily treated with a short course of antibiotics. However, chlamydia often has no symptoms so many people do not know they have the infection, highlighting the importance of getting tested if one is at risk.Gonorrhea in Canada
Rates of Gonorrhea have also increased in Canada over the past decade, although they are still well below rates recorded in the 1980s. In 2020, there were around 81 new cases of gonorrhea in Canada per 100,000 population, a slight decrease from the rate of 94 per 100,000 reported the year before. Gonorrhea is more common among men in Canada than women with a rate of 124 per 100,000 population among men and 64 per 100,000 women in the year 2019. The provinces or territories with the highest rates of gonorrhea are Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Manitoba. Although gonorrhea can be cured with the use of antibiotics, the infection has become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and therefore more difficult to successfully treat.
