More and more syphilis infected in Europe

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 12.07.2019

    

        
        
        

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ECDC report

The number of confirmed syphilis cases in Europe has increased significantly in recent years, reports the ECDC. Germany has the fifth highest prevalence in the countries compared to 2017.

According to ECDC, about 90 percent of those infected with syphilis are men. Most infections occur in the 25- to 34-year-olds.

© jarun011 / stock.adobe.com

SOLNA. The number of confirmed syphilis cases in Europe has increased significantly in recent years. Men aged 25 to 34 are particularly likely to become infected with the sexually transmitted disease in relation to women and other age groups, according to a report published on Friday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

This applies especially to men who have sex with other men and live in urban areas.

For the report, the ECDC has analyzed the development of syphilis from 2007 to 2017 in 30 states – in the EU, Norway and Iceland. Accordingly, the number of cases confirmed per year rose by almost 70 percent since 2010 to a record level of 33,189. In 2016, there had been 29,944 confirmed infections.

For the first time since the beginning of the 2000s, there are more confirmed syphilis than HIV cases in Europe, said the ECDC.

"The growth in the number of syphilis infections we see in Europe and other countries around the world is the result of several factors such as sex without a condom and with multiple sexual partners, combined with less fear of getting HIV", the head of the ECDC program for HIV and STDs, Andrew Amato-Gauci, stuck. During the period from 2007 to 2017, the ECDC detected 260 505 confirmed syphilis cases.

Strong increase in Germany

In Germany, from 2007 to 2017, there was a sharp increase in disease from 4 to 9.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a pan-European rate of 7.1 per 100,000
     (see following map) .

That corresponds to 7473 infections in the Federal territory. As a result, Germany was one of the five countries in which the rate has more than doubled since 2010, along with Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Malta. Estonia and Romania, however, reported a significant decline.

As early as the end of 2018, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin reported that the increase in the number of syphilis infections in Germany was continuing. According to an RKI report, especially in Berlin and Hamburg, an above-average number of people fell ill in relation to the number of inhabitants.

The German Aidshilfe sees as a reason for the rise of registered cases in Germany the declining use of condoms, which is partly because of the better HIV therapy. Another reason is probably an improved test behavior. Gay and bisexual men have increasingly been called to regular syphilis tests.

Especially in the 1980s, the bacterial infection had been suppressed with the spread of HIV / AIDS and safe sex. For years now the trend has been going in the opposite direction. Often, syphilis is without symptoms.

In other cases, usually a few days or weeks after infection, an ulcer occurs on the penis, for example, which causes no pain.

Failure to treat the disease with antibiotics may lead to other signs such as fever, tiredness, headache, joint or muscle pain, and swollen lymph nodes. Years after infection, damage to the brain and blood vessels is possible. (AP)

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