Alberta First Nations health centre will join study aiming to get people tested for syphilis

Health officials are teaming up to make syphilis testing more accessible to people living in central Alberta as the province grapples with a worsening years-long outbreak of the serious sexually transmitted infection.

Dr. Ameeta Singh, an infectious disease specialist and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, oversaw a 19-month clinical trial of a rapid test to quickly and easily test people for both syphilis and HIV.

The test, which was 98 per cent accurate in detecting active syphilis and 100 per cent accurate in detecting HIV, was approved by Health Canada in March 2023.

Now, Singh has received $400,000 in federal funding to explore different ways of reaching — and testing — people potentially affected by syphilis and HIV. Some of the work will happen in Maskwacis, about 85 kilometres south of Edmonton, one of Alberta's largest First Nations communities.

"This test kit that we're using provides a preliminary result for syphilis in less than a minute," Singh told CBC's Radio Active.

"It's very exciting because it provides the opportunity to provide treatment right there and then in a single visit, instead of having to have the person come back for follow-up."

Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection (STI), can lead to significant health issues if left untreated, including brain, heart and nerve complications. Pregnant people who aren't treated can transmit the infection to their fetus — called congenital syphilis — that could lead to health issues for the child, including stillbirth.

There have been 19 infants born with congenital syphilis in the Maskwacis region since 2018, including three stillborns, Singh noted in the research proposal, approved by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in April.

Singh said the rapid tests would help protect people's health.

Treatment can cure the STI and, in the case of pregnancy, prevent harmful outcomes for the baby. Diagnosis will also help stop the spread to other people.

Syphilis rates have been spiking across Canada and internationally, recently reaching levels not seen since the 1940s. 

Alberta, in particular, has become a hotspot. The ongoing outbreak was first declared in 2019; provincial data shows infectious syphilis cases have risen each year for nearly a decade.

In 2021, Alberta recorded more than 3,200 cases — the most in Canada, according to federal government statistics. In 2022, the most recent year for which syphilis statistics are available, Alberta health officials recorded nearly 3,330 cases — second behind Ontario, which reported about 3,440 cases.

"This infection is an old infection," Singh said.