New rapid test for syphilis to be rolled out in Nunavik
Recently announced funding will help with a plan to roll out rapid testing for syphilis in Nunavik.
Making the tests available at the region’s health centres will cut the rate of new syphilis cases by 35 per cent within five to 10 years, said Dr. Cédric Yansouni, an associate professor in the McGill University medical department, and leader of the project.
He said that projection is based on his team’s mathematical modelling. He didn’t say how many new cases might be expected without the rapid testing.
Yansouni and his team — which includes doctors, representatives from the Nunavik health board and Akulivik Mayor Eli Angiyou — received a combined $399,000 for a syphilis rapid test rollout in Nunavik and for research into the disease.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which is providing the money, is a federal agency responsible for funding medical and health research in Canada.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection most often acquired through sexual contact, but it can also be transmitted to unborn children by pregnant women.
According to Yansouni, “in the last decade in Nunavut and Nunavik, there has been a big increase in syphilis, just like in the south.”
However, he said, one factor makes the rising number of cases worse in the North.
Yansouni said that from the time a blood test is done in Northern communities and sent to a medical laboratory down south, there is a nearly two-week wait for the patient to receive results.
“From public investigations, we realized that many infectious contacts happen during the diagnostic delay,” he said.
He said that in 2016, there were one or two cases of syphilis reported in Nunavik but in the past four years there have been nearly 100 cases per year.
In Nunavut, the Department of Health has reported a “noticeable increase” in the number of syphilis cases in Kugluktuk.
According to a study done by the Government of Nunavut and the University of Alberta, 655 infectious syphilis cases were reported across Nunavut between 2012 and 2020.
Yansouni said the rapid test has been used in Puvirnituq for several years and does not show false positives, would be available for free, and only requires a small finger-prick to work.
Within 15 minutes, the patient has a clear result.
“It is definitely a useful tool in the toolbox to add to our other prevention efforts,” he said.
Now that they confirmed the rapid tests work in the context of the Arctic, Yansouni said his team is in the process of offering them in all 14 communities and incorporating the tests in routine care over the next few years.
“It is an area of innovation where we can make a real difference, for individuals and the community,” he said.
Now, Yansouni said, his team’s objective is to ensure the test is widely available, even for people who don’t regularly go to the health centres.
“The idea is to eliminate any barriers that prevent people from taking care of themselves,” he said. “Getting tested for an infection is no different than exercising or eating well.”
Cedric Gallant, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News
