[Table of Contents]

Volume: 25S1 - May 1999

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Canada: 1996 Surveillance Report
(with Preliminary 1997 Data)

Introduction

The prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) is an important public health issue. Surveillance of STD in Canada assists researchers, physicians, and policy-makers in making decisions on how best to control STD and their sequelae. The surveillance of STD in Canada in recent years has become more important than ever with the advent of compounding research on the relationship between STD and HIV. Recent studies have indicated that treating people for an STD can significantly reduce the HIV incidence in a population⁽¹⁾. Additionally, contracting an STD can compromise future fertility, invoking large medical, financial and social costs.

Four STD are currently notifiable to the federal government of Canada. These are genital chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and chancroid. The rates of chancroid are not given in this report because the number of cases is so low: only three cases in Canada in 1996 and no reported cases to date in 1997. In fact, in a recent ranking of current and proposed nationally notifiable diseases at an ACE (Advisory Committee on Epidemiology) meeting, it was recommended that chancroid be removed from the nationally notifiable disease list.

The relative distribution of the nationally notifiable STD in 1996 is shown in Figure 1. The number of cases presented for each STD reflects only those cases reported to the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control.

FIGURE 1 Proportional Distribution of Reported STD in Canada, 1996   Source: Health Canada, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Bureau of Infectious Diseases. © 1999

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