Just a decade ago, syphilis among infants was nearly eliminated in Canada.
Today, it has returned with devastating force. Early warning signs emerged in the 2000s as adult infections began to climb, followed by a sharp and alarming rise in congenital syphilis—passed from mothers to their babies. Federal data show nearly 14,000 cases of infectious syphilis nationwide in 2022, including 117 cases of early congenital infection.
That marks an almost 15-fold increase from just eight infant cases reported five years earlier.
There is no single cause behind the resurgence. Clinicians point to shifting sexual practices and persistent barriers to health care faced by marginalized communities—conditions that allow infections to spread undetected.
For Sean Rourke, a scientist at Unity Health Toronto’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, the greatest concern is the absence of political will to fund and implement solutions, even as STI rates continue to rise and the consequences grow more severe.
While federal officials have called syphilis an "ongoing crisis," Rourke said the situation should be dubbed an emergency that requires urgent on-the-ground efforts — before more vulnerable Canadians bear the brunt of escalating outbreaks.
"We're neglecting them," he said. "We've actually failed them."
Read the full story at the CBC here.
