Chlamydia cases climb in Halifax area

Halifax’s Health authority is reporting a significant spike in chlamydia cases. The most alarming statistics involve women between the ages of 15 and 24 where the number of cases treated each year has grown 20% over the past five years, making the city’s chlamydia rate nearly 30 times the national average.

Capital Health has launched an awareness campaign. Part of that is a new way of screening women for the sexually transmitted infection.

In the past, a woman would have to go in for a full speculum exam to be screened for STIs. But, Dr. Todd Hatchette, director of the virology and immunology lab, says ladies can swab themselves for detection.

“With vaginal swabs which the patient can collect themselves or they can have their doctor collect, it doesn’t require a speculum exam,” he says. “Hopefully that will help facilitate the screening. No woman likes getting a speculum exam and this takes that part away.”

Hatchette says the chlamydia rate among young men in metro seems to be on par with the rest of the country.

“I don’t know if it’s an artifact of the fact that men don’t seek testing or whether there is actually less chlamydia in males,” he says.

Hatchette says chlamydia can cause symptoms, but in 70-75% of cases it’s asymptomatic and people have no idea they’re infected.

 Notes:

* 2010 chlamydia cases based on CDHA PHU CDC Caseload. The denominator for rate calculations is based on population estimates provided by Nova Scotia Community Counts

** Incidence rates from Statistics Canada. (Source: Statistics Canada. (2011). Reported cases and rates of chlamydia by age group and sex, 1991 to 2009. Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/sti-its_tab/chlamydia-eng.php)

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