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Cowieson, Ali

University of British Columbia

Background: Globally, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been steadily increasing and remain a concern for sexual and reproductive health. In British Columbia (BC), infectious syphilis has remained a concern among males and gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (gbMSM) populations over the last 10 years, but more recently there has been an increase in infectious syphilis cases among females and heterosexual populations.2 There is a lack of knowledge on the impacts and spatial location of the infectious syphilis outbreak among females and heterosexual populations in BC. Objective: This thesis aims to identify infectious syphilis cluster neighbourhoods among gbMSM and heterosexual populations in BC. Specifically, this thesis addresses knowledge gaps by identifying infectious syphilis cases and cluster patterns in BC from 2018 to 2022. Methods: In BC, the Provincial Surveillance System is a collection of all syphilis case data retained by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). Bivariate analysis was conducted on infectious syphilis case data to determine missingness of spatial data from 2018 to 2022. Choropleth maps were created for infectious syphilis rates for male, female, and heterosexual populations and syphilis cases for gbMSM populations. Additionally, infectious syphilis clusters were mapped for gbMSM and heterosexual populations. Results: Rates of infectious syphilis were highest for male and female populations in Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, and Surrey. Additional higher rate neighbourhoods for males included Richmond, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Nanaimo, and Victoria. Additional neighbourhoods for females included Richmond, Squamish, Dawson Creek, Prince George, Thornhill, Fort St. John, Williams Lake, Nanaimo. For gbMSM syphilis cases were highest in Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, and Victoria. Statistically significant clusters (p<0.05) were found among gbMSM populations in New Westminster, Richmond, Burnaby, and Victoria. Statistically significant clusters were found among heterosexual populations in Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, Kamloops, and Prince George. Conclusions: Our findings confirm there are two different infectious syphilis outbreaks occurring in BC. One is among gbMSM populations located in the Greater Vancouver Region (GVR) neighbourhoods and one among heterosexual populations located in the GVR and extending out to interior and northern parts of the province.

Thesis/Dissertation

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0445507

Master of Science - MSc

Medicine, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of

2024-11

Graduate

DSpace