Alberta urged to battle syphilis rates

CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Alberta must open more sexual health clinics and require condom machines in bars to combat a rising rate of syphilis, the province's top health official says.

A report released this month by the office of Alberta chief medical officer Andre Corriveau said Alberta's outbreak "shows no signs of abating," The Globe and Mail reported Sunday.

The 2009 rate of infection in Alberta was 7.4 per 100,000 residents, the highest of any province and the highest for Alberta since its rates first spiked about 2003, the report said.

Alberta's rate has leveled off since 2007, and officials say they hope they've stopped the spread.

"But what we want is to get rid of the problem, to make the numbers go down dramatically," Martin Lavoie, one of the province's senior medical officers of health, said. "And we're not there yet."

The disease has spread among vulnerable groups, including those in it thrives in the sex trade, among drug users, and among mothers who can't or don't access prenatal care, officials said.