PrideHealth is hosting a community forum tonight at Fred, 2606 Agricola St, to discuss a recent outbreak of syphilis in Halifax.
“This is an opportunity for the rainbow community to learn what is happening with the syphilis outbreak, how big it is,” says Cybelle Rieber, of prideHealth. “It’s an attempt to try and change misinformation while engaging the community to be part of turning around the outbreak.”
According to Rieber, there have been as many diagnosed cases of the STI in the past four months as there were last year. “We’re still waiting to see if the raise is due to more testing, or if it’s a similar number of people being tested and diagnosed positive. We’re hoping that we will have that info by the night of the forum.”
On the agenda are the mechanics of how the disease spreads, as well as forms of treatment and prevention.
“Anyone can come from any community. We want to engage the pride community in all ways,” Rieber says.