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Volume: 26S6 - October 2000

1998/1999 Canadian Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Surveillance Report

Division of STD Prevention and Control
Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB
Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention
Health Canada
October 2000

Adobe Downloadable Document PDF (535 KB)

Foreword

The Division of STD Prevention and Control at Health Canada is pleased to provide you with this 1998/1999 Canadian Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Surveillance Report. Please note that although the data for 1998 have been finalized, the 1999 STD data are still considered preliminary.

The Canadian STD Surveillance Report(1) includes statistics on diseases that are transmitted predominantly through sexual contact and that are nationally reportable to Health Canada and thus part of the National Disease Reporting System. This national surveillance system includes data for genital chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, and the STD Surveillance Report is produced as soon as possible once these data have been finalized. Hence, although the numbers for 1999 are being reported, they are preliminary and expected to change. The reporting of STD data for Nunavut commenced on April 1, 1999, following the creation of the new Territory.

Surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases in Canada, as in other countries, is a challenging task. The Division of STD Prevention and Control is currently involved in projects designed to enhance existing national data, but limitations in the current data pose difficulties in understanding and reporting the true incidence and prevalence of these diseases. Among these limitations are the following:

  • absence, from some provinces/territories, of variables other than age and gender
  • differences among provinces/territories in the variables collected, and methods of data collection, reporting, and transmission to the national centre
  • reporting delay from time of diagnosis to national reporting
  • aggregation of STD data with ensuing loss of detail

Information from surveillance can identify public health priorities and intervention strategies, and can contribute to the evaluation of programs implemented. Medical practitioners and health agencies need timely and reliable information for use in designing and implementing their programs and to be able to respond to shifts in sexually transmitted disease epidemiology. The Division of STD Prevention and Control is committed to continual improvements in the collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination of national STD data.

We are currently attempting to strengthen and enhance our surveillance data through negotiations with the provinces and territories. It is our hope that assisting them in improving their surveillance systems will, in turn, enhance the national surveillance data.

Data for this report come from several sources, and we gratefully acknowledge them. The Division of Disease Surveillance at Health Canada maintains the National Disease Reporting System, which houses the bacterial STD data. The National Laboratory for STD, in Winnipeg, provides data on penicillin-resistant gonorrhea and has contributed sections to this report. Most of all, we are grateful to the provinces/territories for the timely manner in which they provide data to Health Canada, their willingness to participate in our ad hoc surveys, such as the Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques survey, and their continued expert contributions to our program.

Robbi Jordan, BA
Surveillance Analyst
Division of STD Prevention and Control
Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB

Thomas Wong, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC
Chief
Division of STD Prevention and Control
Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB

Donald Sutherland, MD, MCommH, MSc
Director
Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD and TB
Health Canada

We also acknowledge Mme Christine Robitaille for her assistance in translation of this document, and the Document Dissemination Division for a final revision.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Genital Chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis)

Gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae)

Infectious Syphilis (Treponema pallidum)

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

A Final Word: STD and HIV Co-infection

References

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

List of Figures

  1. STD in Canada as a proportion of all notifiable diseases, 1999
  2. Reported genital chlamydia rates in Canada, 1991 to 1999
  3. Reported male genital chlamydia rates in Canada by age group, 1997 to 1999
  4. Reported female genital chlamydia rates in Canada by age group, 1997 to 1999
  5. Reported male genital chlamydia rates in Canada by province/territory, 1997 to 1999
  6. Reported female genital chlamydia rates in Canada by province/territory, 1997 to 1999
  7. Reported gonorrhea rates in Canada, 1980 to 1999
  8. Reported male gonorrhea rates in Canada by age group, 1997 to 1999
  9. Reported female gonorrhea rates in Canada by age group, 1997 to 1999
  10. Reported male gonorrhea rates in Canada by province/territory, 1997 to 1999
  11. Reported female gonorrhea rates in Canada by province/territory, 1997 to 1999
  12. Infectious syphilis in Canada - average annual cases from 1997 to 1999
  13. Reported infectious syphilis rates in Canada, 1993 to 1999
  14. Reported infectious syphilis rates in Canada by age group, 1993 to 1999

List of Tables

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