Enhanced Surveillance of Antimicrobial-Resistant Gonorrhea System (ESAG): Data representativeness

This page presents how nationally representative the Enhanced Surveillance of Antimicrobial-Resistant Gonorrhea System (ESAG) data are.

  • Last updated: 2025-07-04

It describes the proportion of ESAG cases with cultures compared to: i) the total number of gonorrhea cases reported across Canada to the Canadian Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (CNDSS) and ii) the total number of gonorrhea cultures included in GASP-Canada.

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In 2013, PHAC's CCDIC, in partnership with the NML and three provinces (Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia), launched the pilot phase of ESAG. Alberta, which already collected data relevant to AMR-GC, was the first participating jurisdiction. Winnipeg and the Capital District Health Authority in Nova Scotia (now the Nova Scotia Health Authority – Central Zone), began collecting data in 2014. Additionally, in 2018, the Northwest Territories joined ESAG. In June 2023, New Brunswick joined ESAG. Additional provincial and territorial recruitment is ongoing.

Figure 1: Provinces and territories participating in ESAG, 2018 to 2023

Between 2018 and 2023, gonococcal cultures from ESAG cases represented, on average, 23.2% of all N. gonorrhoeae cultures submitted to the NML

Between 2018 and 2022, ESAG cases represented, on average, 2.4% of all gonorrhea cases submitted to CNDSS1. At the time of publication, the most recent CNDSS gonorrhea case data available is from 2022.

Text description
Province or Territory Data Provided
British Columbia None
Yukon None
Northwest Territories 2018–2023
Nunavut None
Alberta 2018–2023
Saskatchewan None
Manitoba 2018–2023
Ontario None
Quebec None
New Brunswick 2023 only
Nova Scotia 2018–2023
Prince Edward Island None
Newfoundland and Labrador None

Figure 2: Number of ESAG cases and gonorrhea case rates reported by and the national gonorrhea rate, 2018 to 2023

Provincial and territorial case rates for 2022 and 2023 will be uploaded once they become publicly available.

Text description

Notes
  • Rates represent the number of cases of gonorrhea per 100,000 population reported to PHAC's Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System1.
  • Provincial and territorial gonorrhea rates are available here

References

Reference 1

Government of Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Notifiable diseases on-line [Internet]. Canada.ca. Available from: https://diseases.canada.ca/notifiable/

Return to reference 1 referrer

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