HIV cases rising sharply in health region

In the last three years, the Prairie Mountain Health region has seen a steep increase in the number of people with HIV — from six to 75 reported cases since 2022.

“It is concerning,” said Dr. Carol Kurbis, a provincial medical officer of health in communicable disease control.

“HIV has been increasing in Manitoba since about 2019, with the sharpest growth in Prairie Mountain Health since 2022.”

In 2022, there were six people in the PMH region who were diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus. That number more than tripled to 19 in 2023.

The government’s annual HIV surveillance report for 2024 hasn’t been released yet, but preliminary numbers show that last year the number jumped to 44 people with HIV in the health region.

Preliminary figures from the first six months of this year reportedly show the region has recorded 75 cases — which is about 40 per cent of the provincial total of 189.

“The rate of increase has been a little bit higher in Prairie Mountain,” Kurbis said, “but we’ve certainly seen it in all areas of the province.

“And what we’re seeing it associated with is injection drug use and heterosexual sex,” she said.

“The association with injection drug use has been increasing over the last many years, and certainly Manitoba has a higher association with injection drug use than what we see in other areas of Canada.”

Manitoba and Saskatchewan top the list of provinces and territories when it comes to diagnosis rates of HIV.

The national rate is 6.1 per 100,000 people, with Manitoba at 19.3 and Saskatchewan at 19.4.

Kurbis was one of the featured speakers during an online town hall last week with residents from Swan Valley to address the rising number of cases in that area.

“We know that HIV is associated with a number of challenging issues like substance use, mental health, poverty, unstable housing,” she said.

“So there are many factors that go along with the increase in HIV, and we certainly need to look at those issues at the same time when we’re dealing with HIV, in order to really prevent more cases and manage the cases that we have.”

HIV is a viral infection spread by bodily fluids such as blood, breast milk or through sexual contact. It gradually weakens a person’s immune system and makes them vulnerable to disease, yet many people don’t know they have it until they are tested.

“A lot of stigma comes with HIV. There’s a lot of fear from people even wanting to be tested or wanting to know whether they have HIV,” Kurbis said.

In Brandon’s downtown, 7th Street Health Access Centre provides testing and treatment for all sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections at no cost.

An HIV program at that location offers a full-time nurse, social worker and outreach worker. An HIV clinic is also at the centre.

Education is a big part of prevention, said Kaitlyn White of Westman’s Sexuality Education Resource Centre.

“Often living with HIV and the stigma that comes with it is much worse than the actual infection itself. And I think a lot of that comes from a lack of education and concern about HIV transmission,” White said.

“We offer things like free safer sex supplies, including condoms and lubricant, which help prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.”

In partnership with PMH, the centre operates as a community-based distribution site for injection kits, pipes, Naloxone kits and fentanyl testing strips.

“I think the reason that we see an increased amount of drug use is because people’s basic needs like housing, food, basic income are not being met,” White said.

“So this is kind of like the result of many, many social issues that have been building up for a long, long time.”

There is no cure for HIV, but Kurbis said effective treatments and supports are available that prevent it from being passed on to others.

“With treatment, you can lower the amount of virus in your body, and if it’s undetectable by a lab, it means that you can’t transmit it to others sexually,” Kurbis said.

“Obviously, it has huge advantages for the individual, because if it’s undetectable, then they can essentially live normal, healthy lives.”

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