Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press (12.20.07) - Thursday, December 20, 2007
Maria Cheng
"Syphilis used to be a very rare disease. I'm not sure we can say that anymore," said Dr. Marita van de Laar, an STD expert at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. In the last decade, syphilis outbreaks have been recorded in major cities across Europe, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.
According to the UK Health Protection Agency, syphilis cases in Britain have increased more than tenfold in the last ten years, to 3,702 in 2006. Among men in England, the rate jumped from one case per 100,000 in 1997 to nine per 100,000 last year.
France recorded 428 cases in 2003, nearly 16 times the number just three years prior. In the Netherlands, syphilis reports doubled between 2000 and 2004. In Amsterdam, approximately 31 men per 100,000 were infected, though rates were much lower in other regions.
In Germany, the rate among men was fewer than two per 100,000 in 1991; by 2003, it jumped to six per 100,000.
Some experts link the rise of syphilis to the increase in online dating sites. Some groups like Terrance Higgins Trust, Europe's largest AIDS charity, are responding by reaching out to people in cyberspace before unsafe sex occurs. Each day, THT workers visit chatrooms to spread safe sex messages and answer related questions.
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