Greenland’s gonorrhea, chlamydia rates on the rise

Condoms, which help prevent the exchange of bodily fluids that carry infections, are available for free in most health centres in Nunavut and Nunavik, where these particular condoms were packaged as part of a regional campaign against STIs. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise in Greenland, according to a report in that country’s leading newspaper, Sermitsiaq.

Greenland’s gonorrhea rate in particular has doubled over the past six years, meaning that one in 26 adults is now infected.

Gonorrhea is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that, if left untreated, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease in women and infertility in both sexes.

New figures from Greenland’s health department show there are 38 cases of gonorrhea for every 1,000 inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 59.

That’s almost double the figure from 2007, when health officials registered only 20 cases per 1,000 people.

But the figures sit in stark contrast to Denmark, where health authorities see only 0.1 cases of gonorrhea per 1,000 people.

That makes the risk of picking up the STI 300 times greater in Greenland than in Denmark.

Health authorities fear the rise in gonorrhea — along with a growing number of cases of chlamydia — suggests people are not practicing safe sex.

That, authorities fear, could lead to the spread of the HIV virus in Greenland, which had been found in mostly isolated cases up until now.

Greenland’s latest gonorrhea rates are even higher than those in Nunavut, where 595 cases of the STI were recorded in 2011, 0r 1.8 per cent of the population.

Those statistics noted a major increase in STIs across the North at the time; cases of gonorrhea skyrocketed in Nunavut between 2006 and 2008, jumping 200 per cent.

Nunavut’s rate of gonorrhea is about 50 times the national average, while chlamydia among Nunavummiut is over 14 times the national average.

Syphilis is also on the rise; more than 30 cases have been recorded since last year, the government of Nunavut said this past spring

In Quebec, 2008 statistics show that 4.4 per cent of people in the Nunavik region tested positive for gonorrhea, at a rate that’s 55 times higher than the rest of the province.

But that rate has come down considerably – in 2011, 204 Nunavimmiut were found to be infected with gonorrhea, or 1.7 per cent of the population.

Campaigns in both regions has tried to encourage the use of condoms, which are available free of charge in most of Nunavik and Nunavut’s health centres.

Despite the potential to cause damage, gonorrhea starts off with mild symptoms, or none at all, which means you could potentially pass it on to your partner or your partners without even knowing it.

Gonorrhea, like chlamydia and other STIs, can eventually produce symptoms like burning when peeing, itchiness, redness, soreness or pain when having sex.

Besides causing infertility and other health problems, chlamydia and gonorrhea can be passed on from a mother to her child during childbirth and syphilis can be passed to an unborn baby during pregnancy.

That means newborn babies can end up with ear, throat or eye infections and, in severe cases, become blind, deaf or die.

Visit this website for more information on preventing STIs.