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“It is vitally important that everyone who is sexually active in Alberta take responsibility for having safer sex and get tested, especially if you have new or multiple partners,” said Dr. Laura McDougall, senior medical officer of health at Alberta Health Services.

Photo by Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

Untreated infectious syphilis can lead to serious long-term health complications. While there are not always symptoms in the early stages, it can present as a painless ulcer, progress to general symptoms like a fever, and even lead to eye problems or dementia in late stages, said Hinshaw.

“It rolls through the body in stages,” said Hinshaw.

Health officials are also extremely concerned about rates of congenital syphilis, which occurs when a baby is infected during pregnancy. This can cause brain and nerve damage, among other serious medical problems. There have been 22 cases across the province between 2014 and 2018, one of which was a stillbirth. Of those, 13 were reported in the Edmonton area, eight in 2018 alone.

The current caseload is still “concerning and alarming” and “requires action,” said McDougall.

There were 70 infectious syphilis cases for every 100,000 people in Edmonton in 2018. In Calgary, there were 13 cases for every 100,000 people, 19 in central Alberta, 43 in northern Alberta, and 10 in the southern portion of the province.

While Edmonton’s caseload represented a 305 per cent increase over its 2017 numbers, it’s still unclear why so many cases are concentrated in the area, said Hinshaw.