Skyrocketing AIDS, STD Rates
AIDS is increasing at an alarming rate in Ontario. "During the conference, I read an article that said AIDS had increased in Ontario by 30% since 1999 and the bulk of that was in Toronto" ... In 2003, 854,817 people aged 15-49 reported being found to have an STD. The most commonly reported STD is Chlamydia, with close to 63,000 cases reported in 2004, the highest number since the disease became reportable in 1990. And two-thirds of all reported cases are in the 15-24 age group. Gonorrhea is the second-most-reported STD in Canada with reported cases nearly doubling from 14.9 per 100,000 in 1997 to 28.9 per 100,000 in 2004. And syphillis affects 3.5 people per 100,000, nearly nine times the rate in 1997.