STI rates seem to be in decline during the Covid pandemic. Or are they?

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #138 (In numerology, 138 is about creative self-expression.)
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 11/19: 314,385*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 11/19: 11,238*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 11/19: 56,358,603*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 11/19: 1,351,381*

November 19, 2020—It’s Thursday here at Chronicle HQ in sunless Etobicoke, Ont., and editorial director Allan Ryan has dropped by to check the mail and offer some H2O to the plants—they look they might appreciate a bit of a pep talk, too. It’s been a long eight months.

Covid-19 has forced hospitals to focus on the pandemic, leading to widely-reported delays in cancer and cardiac surgeries as well as elective procedures. Less obvious are the effects of shortened hours and closings of health clinics necessitated by staff reassignment or lack of adequate personal protective equipment. For instance, according to a survey in the United States by the National Coalition of STD Directors, 80 per cent of sexual health screening clinics reported they had reduced hours or closed altogether.

Let’s consider this: Rates of STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, after being expected to hit record levels in 2020, have actually gone into decline since the start of the pandemic. 

But this article in The New York Times points out these decreased rates might not be good news. The lower incidence is more than likely a signal that the infections are going undetected, according to speakers at the 2020 STD Prevention Conference, held virtually in September. 

Some observers speculate that patients with STD symptoms may not be seeking testing or treatment, choosing to avoid clinics or hospitals to avoid exposure to Covid-19.

Daily Mail Australia has reported that the statistics from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre indicating people without symptoms seeking STI testing this year fell by 68 per cent.

What does one make of these figures? Dr. Ted Rosen, a dermatologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said here that it is unclear if rates are rising or falling. 

“The reality is we have no idea,” said Dr. Rosen. “Between 2014 and 2018, year over year, there were fairly significant increases in virtually all the STIs . . . For the first few months of 2020, it looked like that trend was going to continue. But from very preliminary nationwide data, from March to October, there was a massive decrease in STIs, on the order of more than 30 per cent. . . The question is whether this is real or an artifact.”

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Kevin Leshuk. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 11/19/2020

• A paper published in The Lancet Oncology reports that delays in detection, diagnosis, and treatment caused by Covid-19 may have affected patients with lung cancer most severely. A combination of factors may be responsible, the authors say, including symptoms that overlap with Covid-19 and the inordinate pressures on healthcare services caused by the pandemic.
• Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine results are promising, with study results released this week showing 94.5 per cent response. As it turns out, singer Dolly Parton played a part in this vaccine development when she donated US$1 million to Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center in honour of her friend and Vanderbilt professor of surgery Dr. Naji Abumrad. She told NBC’s Today program in the spring: "I felt like this was the time for me to open my heart and my hand and try to help." She is listed as a sponsor in Moderna’s list of vaccine research supporters.
• Flat-earth believer meets Daily CurveFlattener: A B.C. man was arrested for violating the province’s Quarantine Act after returning home from, get this, a flat-earth festival in the United States. According to a CTV report, the New Westminster man was ticketed for not quarantining in October after re-entering the country, but police said he kept leaving his house. Authorities had finally seen enough when they saw this YouTube video of the man was posted, showing him speaking at an anti-mask rally in Vancouver, proffering opinions that the Earth really is flat and the populace has been sold a bill of goods regarding Covid.

WHAT CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

Our man in historic and welcoming Buffalo, N.Y., assistant editor Cory Perla, has filed his interview with Dr. Eunice Chow, who has been named Dermatologist of the Year by the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance. Watch for it in the upcoming edition of The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy.

TONIGHT WE ARE READING...

As architects and epidemiologists begin to consider how potential pandemics may influence the construction of new hospitals, this look back at hospital design and the implications of germ theory from the 1870s to the Second World War provides insights into competing visions of healthcare from physicians, administrators, and architects. Kind of dry in places, but I love this stuff. 

Rise of the Modern Hospital: An Architectural History of Health and Healing, 1870-1940 by Jeanne Kisacky, US$65 (hardcover)

HOW IS YOUR DAY GOING?

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Stay in touch, stay safe, and enjoy your day. Mitch Shannon will be here Friday to ease you all into the weekend.