Staggering increase in sexually transmitted infections in Bas-Saint-Laurent

Public health is concerned regarding the rise in cases of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) in Bas-Saint-Laurent. The number of cases has doubled in just over ten years in the region.

This is revealed by the health authorities’ report on notifiable diseases between 2010 and 2021. Excluding COVID-19, 8,000 cases of notifiable diseases have been reported in Bas-St-Laurent. Two-thirds concern STBBIs.

In 2010, more than 250 cases of STBBIs were diagnosed in the region. In 2019, this number exceeded 500 cases. Despite a decline during the pandemic, the number of infections remained at a higher level than at the beginning of the decade.

This type of infection remains for the moment proportionally less frequent than in Quebec, but the upward trend is considered “worrying”.

Young people aged 15 to 24 are more affected. The authorities are monitoring this trend.

“She is translating something. That’s what we’re going to try to find out as well. It is when we see a rise that continues year following year, except when there are extraordinary phenomena, but which resume at the same speed. It is certain that it reflects behaviors that are well anchored, and there, it is certain that the efforts that we must make will be greater, ”explains the director of public health for Bas-Saint-Laurent, Dr. Sylvain Leduc.

Public health will work on screening for STBBIs in the coming years.

“It is certain that awareness raising among young people on the issue of STBBIs to also recognize and be able to anticipate the potential seriousness of this will be carried out”, adds Dr. Joanne Aubé-Maurice, who is medical assistant to the Direction of public health in Bas-Saint-Laurent.

With this report, public health will also monitor the fragility of vaccination coverage in a post-health crisis context, the probable arrival of emerging pathogens and the impact of climate change on health over the coming years.