syphilis

The U.S. has a big syphilis problem on its hands. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that reported cases of the sexually transmitted infection once again climbed in 2022, reaching a total not seen in over 70 years. In slightly better news, reported cases of gonorrhea have taken a slight downturn, while chlamydia cases have stayed level.Alex Winter on the Most Important Modern Horror Movie The numbers come from the CDC’s latest STI Surveillance Report, which details the annual recorded…

In 1493, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus returned to Europe after his famous journey to the Americas.Just a year or two later, a plague broke out among French soldiers in Italy that quickly spread to other parts of the continent and came to be called the 'Great Pox'.So began Europe's first known outbreak of syphilis.Historians have long debated where this highly contagious infection came from, and the timing of Columbus' return, along with racist and xenophobic ideologies, had many pointing the finger at the…

Health officials in the US have spotted a worrying cluster of syphilis cases: five women have allegedly had their eyes infected with the pathogen after encountering the same man, which given the infection's unusual nature suggests a new strain of the syphilis bacterium may have evolved.The syphilis bacterium, Treponema pallidum, is known to be able to infect the eyes (as well as the ears and the central nervous system), when left untreated. But it happens very rarely, which is why the experts at the Centers for Disease…

Those trends have combined to affect “women from vulnerable communities … usually women who are Black or brown, with lower financial means, lack of access to transportation, inability to take time off work,” says Natasha Bagdasarian, a physician and the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, which had 38 congenital cases of the disease in 2022. “What we're seeing when we review cases of congenital syphilis are individuals who, rather than have a single healthcare provider through their pregnancy, have gone to…

Over the last five years, syphilis transmission has increased explosively all over the US. The spread of this infection, which starts as a rash but can progress to severe disease in adults, is particularly alarming because syphilis infections during pregnancy can lead to death or disability in newborns. Although syphilis trends are bad on a national scale, South Dakota’s numbers are particularly concerning. Since 2020, cases in the state have increased tenfold. Furthermore, infections are not evenly spread across the…

Across the board, sexually transmitted infections are on a “shocking” upward trajectory, according to public health experts. Preliminary data from 2021 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in September shows upticks in cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia — but outpacing them is a disease that the US at one point nearly succeeded in eliminating: syphilis. Syphilis is a sometimes-fatal infection caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium that leads to skin rashes in its early stages and, in its later…

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) plans to set up a hospital-based surveillance network to collect data on sexually transmitted infections (STI), document patterns and analyse trends. The move will help experts to formulate patient management policies, diagnostic protocols, and develop a public health policy to address concerns over STIs, according to ICMR. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also set a target to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted…