The number of infectious disease cases in Chatham-Kent is down, but it's not telling the full story, according to local health officials.
CK Public Health has released the statistics for 2023, which showed a total of 1,869 infectious disease cases. This is down from 7,083 reported in 2022 and 3,871 in 2021.
The main reason the figure is lower is COVID-19, as the number of confirmed cases decreased drastically last year, compared to the two previous years.
Laura Zettler, a epidemiologist and program manager for CK Public Health, explained this is because it's harder to get a test done these days.
"You really need to be hospitalized. It really needs to change the trajectory of your treatment to really have that PCR lab confirmation. Even rapid tests aren't as accessible and available as they have been in the past," she said.
In total, there were 1,363 confirmed COVID cases across CK in 2023. While they don't have an estimate, health officials believe the number would be much higher and closer to previous years if testing was more available.
The vast majority of nearly 1,900 cases were reportedly vaccine preventable. You take COVID out of the equation and you're still left with 55 cases.
Ten of these cases involved pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough. It's impossible to pinpoint an exact reason why there were this many infections, however, Zettler believes a lack of vaccinations played a part.
"It wasn't localized to any one particular health unit... it definitely was in unvaccinated communities," she said.
Infections that continues to see large numbers in Chatham-Kent are sexually-transmitted and bloodborne.
There were 377 reported Sexually Transmitted Infection cases, with 269 people testing positive for chlamydia. This was followed by gonorrhea and Hepatitis C.
For Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, CK's Chief Medical Officer of Health, it's hard to believe these infections continue to be a problem today.
"I graduated 35 years ago and I would have thought many of these diseases would be vanquished," he noted.
When it comes to Hepatitus C specifically, Zettler did mention that the number of cases is down significantly from five years ago when they were higher than the provincial average.
Meanwhile, the message from CK Public Health is to get vaccinated.
Last year, they administered around 20,000 vaccines which doesn't include the ones being done by pharmacies.
Influenza and updated COVID-19 vaccinations are now available to the general public.