Chatham-Kent Public Health (CKPH) is reporting the rate of gonorrhea across the municipality not only increased between 2018 and 2022, but exceeded the provincial average.
A report by CKPH Epidemiologist Laura Zettler said that's just the tip of the iceberg because many diseases of public health significance are under-reported.
Zettler noted 407 cases of gonorrhea from 2018-2022, placing it second on the list of top five most frequently reported infectious diseases during that time period.
Chlamydia topped the list of most frequently reported infectious diseases from 2018 to 2022 with 1,268 cases, accounting for 47 per cent of the 2,718 cases in total of public health significance reported to the CK public health unit over those five years, excluding COVID-19 (an average of 544 total cases per year).
The 407 gonorrhea cases made up 15 per cent of the total count.
"Of the top infectious diseases reported, most rates have remained relatively unchanged and comparable to Ontario over the five year period, with the exception of gonorrhea," wrote Zettler. "In Chatham-Kent, chlamydia rates were highest among 15 to 24 year olds, whereas 25 to 44 year olds experienced the highest rates of both gonorrhea and hepatitis C."
According to Zettler, hepatitis C rates in CK have decreased and are comparable to the provincial average (219 cases or 8 per cent of the total case count).
She also cited 299 cases of the flu or 11 per cent of the total, adding that rates of influenza were higher among females and highest in the 65 and older age group.
"The 2018/19 and 2019/20 influenza seasons brought relatively low volumes of reported cases compared to previous seasonal levels; however, during the pandemic seasons of 2020/21 and 2021/22, there were few to no influenza cases reported among CK residents," she said.
Zettler's report shows 10,760 cases of COVID-19 from 2020-2022.
"Many diseases of public health significance are under-reported due to a variety of factors, such as disease awareness, medical care seeking behaviours, changes in laboratory testing, reporting behaviours, clinical practice, and severity of illness," Zettler shared. "Therefore, this report underestimates the true number of cases and rates of infectious disease in Chatham-Kent. Vulnerable and marginalized groups carry a disproportionate burden across a wide range of infectious diseases. Many examples of this, including for sexually transmissible and blood-borne infections and tuberculosis, illustrate the connection between infectious diseases and the social determinants of health."
Chatham-Kent Public Health noted it works towards the goal of reducing the burden of communicable diseases and other infectious diseases of public health importance among residents of Chatham-Kent by recording data related to reportable infectious diseases, conducting surveillance and epidemiological analysis to identify important trends and at-risk populations, and uses the assessment and surveillance information to inform relevant program development.
