The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor As northern Saskatchewan grapples with a small but rising number of HIV infections, the virus appears even less common in northern Manitoba. Provincial data shows that between 2009 and 2011, the last year for which stats are available, northern Manitoba reported nine new cases of HIV. That included two cases in the former NOR-MAN region, whose major centres were Flin Flon and The Pas. NOR-MAN has since merged with Burntwood, which covered the Thompson region, where there were six new infections. The remaining case of HIV occurred in the Churchill area, which had its own health authority but is now part of the Winnipeg Health Region. While Manitoba men are more likely than women to be diagnosed with HIV, that was not so in the northern region, as five of the cases were female and four were male. Even with available data, it is impossible to determine how many people in a region have HIV since someone can be diagnosed in one health region and move to another. Then there's the fact that about 25 per cent of Canadians with HIV do not know they have it, according to a Public Health Agency of Canada estimate. The nine HIV diagnoses in northern Manitoba accounted for 2.9 per cent of the 306 new cases reported across the province between 2009 and 2011. Nearly 63 per cent of those 306 cases involved male patients. Six involved patients from outside Manitoba and one involved a patient from an unknown location. Between 1985 and 2008, northern Manitoba recorded 34 HIV diagnoses _ six in NOR-MAN, 28 in Burntwood and none in the Churchill area. During that same period, Manitoba as a whole saw 1,513 HIV diagnoses. Thirty-two of the infected individuals were from outside the province and another three were from an unknown location. Third highest At the end of 2011, Manitoba had the third highest reported rate of newly positive HIV adults among the provinces and territories. But in terms of absolute numbers, Manitoba accounted for 3.7 per cent of new cases in Canada that year. The three main ethnicities reported by Manitobans testing positive for HIV in 2011 were aboriginal (35 per cent), Caucasian (20 per cent) and African / African-Canadian (18 per cent). Twenty per cent of new cases did not report on ethnicity. The two main risk categories for HIV diagnoses were heterosexual contact (38 per cent of cases) and male homosexual contact (16 per cent). Twenty-eight per cent of cases did not report a risk factor or exposure. Across the border, Saskatchewan has the highest rate of new HIV infections in Canada, with the trend extending to that province's three northern health regions. Northern Saskatchewan is now reporting about 12 to 24 new cases of HIV a year. Northern Saskatchewan consists of the Athabasca, Keewatin and Mamawetan Churchill River health regions, the latter of which includes Creighton and Denare Beach. Across Canada, an estimated 71,300 people knowingly live with HIV or the syndrome it can cause, AIDS. HIV can be spread through sexual contact and the exchange of blood, such as through sharing needles, even when no blood is visible to the naked eye.
