Officials with Chatham-Kent Public Health are fighting the good fight against infectious diseases.
A recent information report to the Board of Health outlined the top diseases making the rounds in 2023. CK Public Health reports all infectious diseases to the Ministry of Health as required, and regularly monitors and analyzes local trends.
There were 1869 cases of reportable infectious diseases among local residents in 2023. COVID-19 continued to top the list, accounting for 70% of all diseases of public health significance with 1363 lab-confirmed illnesses reported last year.
Of the remaining diseases of public health significance in 2023, there were 506 new cases reported, including 269 cases of chlamydial infections, 72 cases of gonorrhea, 26 cases of influenza, and 22 cases of hepatitis C.
Epidemiologist Laura Zettler says the numbers underestimate the true number of cases and rates of infection in Chatham-Kent, since many diseases of public health significance are underreported. Factors in reporting include disease awareness, medical care seeking behaviours, changes in laboratory testing, reporting behaviours, clinical practice, and severity of illness.
According to the report, vulnerable populations tend to experience a disproportional burden across a wide range of infectious diseases, including sexually transmissible and blood-borne infections, vaccine preventable illnesses and tuberculosis,
Moving forward, staff with Chatham-Kent Public Health will continue to raise awareness in the community about diseases of public health significance and use assessment and surveillance information as they develop relevant programs for at-risk populations.