Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - November 20, 2003
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the syphilis rate rose 9 percent between 2001 and 2002, the second straight yearly increase following a decade-long decline. The rate rose nearly 5 percent in 2001.
Untreated syphilis can cause insanity and death, as well as help spread HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
While health experts said declines among black Americans and women showed the success of targeted education and testing programs, they also said the data posed new challenges to attacking the dramatic increase in syphilis among gay and bisexual men.
Syphilis among men rose 27 percent, to 5,267 cases in 2002 from 4,134 a year earlier. The CDC estimated that more than 40 percent of all syphilis cases last year were among men who have sex with men.
"Given the complex challenges that gay and bisexual men face, we don't expect to see immediate results from our efforts," Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, said during a teleconference.
The CDC said previous research has shown that a large percentage of gay and bisexual men with syphilis also have HIV.
In New York City, for example, gay men who are HIV positive made up 61 percent of syphilis cases last year, up from 20 percent in 1999. In other cities, an average of about 50 percent of recent syphilis cases were among people with HIV, the agency said.
Valdiserri said relaxed attitudes about safe sex in the wake of effective HIV treatment and problems with substance abuse and depression could explain the acceleration of syphilis in gay men, which is also being seen in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe.
He said the study pointed to the need for routine testing for STDs among gay and bisexual men, and a need to extend prevention programs to emerging venues where these men can meet new partners, including the Internet.
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