VANCOUVER, Canada, Dec 24 (AFP) - Vancouver is facing the worst outbreak of syphilis per capita in the developed world, with city health officials fearful of a looming epidemic of the sexually transmitted disease once thought almost wiped out in North America.
Some 254 new cases have been diagnosed locally this year authorities said early this week -- more than the total for North America in two decades, with more expected, said Dr. Michael Rekart of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
"There's a lot of unsafe sex going on in Vancouver and the disease has simply taken hold," Rekart said. "Our outbreak is primarily among sex trade workers now, but we're worried about it jumping to the gay community and beyond and creating a bigger epidemic," he said Tuesday.
Until 1997, syphilis was almost non-existent on the North American continent, with only one or two cases reported per year in British Columbia. Then suddenly it took off, with the strain affecting most Canadians traced to developing countries in Asia and Central America, said Rekart.
Health authorities have also noted an increase in new HIV cases among injection drug users in Vancouver's impoverished downtown east side.
Syphilis, meanwhile, is transmitted by contact with genital lesions or sores which can also expose those afflicted to other sexually transmitted diseases.
In 2000, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority launched a large-scale campaign to curb the growing rate of infection, treating 6,000 people most at risk with three pills taken orally, but the disease persisted and finally appeared in the local gay community.
In 2002, the health authority recorded 186 new cases of syphilis, 15 per cent of them among gay men. This year, it jumped to more than 250 new cases and gay men account for a quarter of infections. Several cases of syphilis in Calgary (Alberta) have also been traced back to Vancouver.
The health authority's chief medical officer John Blatherwick blames a growing apathy in the gay community regarding the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, particularly among younger men. They are weary of using condoms and believe erroneously that AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are curable or manageable.
"Young people think that they're safe from everything and it can't happen to them," Blatherwick said. In fact, local health officials reported a stark rise in new cases of HIV, gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted diseases in the gay community in recent years.
The Internet has also made it easy for people to meet and have anonymous sex with several partners, Blatherwick said.
The US Centre for Disease Control released a report last week blaming an outbreak of syphilis in San Francisco on casual sex between gay men who met in online chat rooms. Nearly 45 per cent of the men surveyed said they met all or some of their sex partners online.
Syphilis can be easily diagnosed with a blood test and most cases can be easily treated with antibiotics, but if left untreated for more than a year, infections can lead to serious brain or heart damage.
"It's the classic tale of Tudor kings going crazy from syphilis," said Blatherwick.
Most cases are diagnosed before they become serious, but one of two Vancouver children infected before birth in the last two years suffered permanent brain, heart and bone deformities. The other was treated successfully and appears healthy, according to doctors.
The health authority hopes to launch a public campaign early next year with funding from the provincial government to communicate the dangers to the public, targeting primarily the gay community through chat rooms and other meeting places.
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