UPDATE Sept. 4, 2025: Health Canada has , based on results of clinical trials co-led by U of A clinical professor . The test provides accurate results within one minute, making it the fastest screening device for syphilis in Canada and offering a new, vital tool for identifying syphilis cases and connecting patients to treatment and care more quickly.
Last year, Singh was awarded $400,000 from the to improve access to syphilis and HIV testing in a rural First Nations community. how implementing a team-based approach affects the delivery of rapid/point-of-care testing services for syphilis and HIV in a community affected by Alberta’s syphilis outbreak. Singh is partnering for this research with Unity Health Toronto, Alberta Health Services, Alberta Precision Labs, and Knowledge Users from Maskwacis Health Services and the
Health-care professionals have a new tool in their battle against Canada’s raging syphilis epidemic thanks in part to research. a after a found it was 100 per cent accurate in identifying HIV infections and 98 per cent accurate for active syphilis.
“These extremely rapid point of care tests for the diagnosis of syphilis and HIV are much needed and a game changer for Canada,” says infectious disease specialist and principal investigator Ameeta Singh, who is a clinical professor of medicine.
“We were able to save costs associated with an additional clinic visit, reducing the number of cases lost to followup, and prevent ongoing disease transmission.”
Singh’s trial tested two devices with 1,526 participants at two emergency departments, a First Nations community, a correctional facility and a sexually transmitted infections clinic in Edmonton and northern Alberta between August 2020 and February 2022. The patients provided a single drop of blood from a fingerprick and their test results were ready within five minutes. All positive tests were confirmed with standard lab test methods. Twenty-two patients tested positive for HIV and 202 for infectious (active) syphilis. Most received same-day penicillin treatment for syphilis or were connected to HIV care.
Syphilis rates have spiked recently in Canada, , with the rate among women of child-bearing age going up by 775 per cent between 2016 and 2020. Fifty cases of syphilis in newborns were reported in 2020, compared with four cases in 2001. Syphilis infection increases the risk of acquiring HIV as well. An estimated 1,520 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in 2020, down slightly from 2018, .
Singh’s study was jointly funded by the , , , , and .