Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
The Syphilis Epidemic Among Heterosexuals Is Accelerating: Evidence From King County, Washington
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
The Syphilis Epidemic Among Heterosexuals Is Accelerating: Evidence From King County, Washington
Do you wish to request the book?
The Syphilis Epidemic Among Heterosexuals Is Accelerating: Evidence From King County, Washington
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
The Syphilis Epidemic Among Heterosexuals Is Accelerating: Evidence From King County, Washington
2023
Overview
Abstract
Background
We characterized the rapid increase in syphilis among cisgender women in King County, Washington, and compared it with trends among cisgender men who have sex with men.
Method
We used surveillance data from King County, 2007 to 2022, to describe incidence trends stratified by syphilis stage, gender, and gender of sex partners; trends in pregnant cases and congenital syphilis; and trends in rapid plasma reagin titer at diagnosis among late/unknown duration cases. We used joinpoint regression to analyze trends.
Results
Among cisgender women, all-stage syphilis incidence remained stable from 2007 to 2010 but then increased by 16.3% per year (95% CI, 12.0%–20.7%) from 2010 to 2020 and 90.1% per year (95% CI, 26.4%–185.9%) from 2020 to 2022. Early syphilis rates rose gradually from 2007 to 2017 (18% per year; 95% CI, 7.4%–29.6%) and then rapidly from 2017 to 2022 (62.5% per year; 95% CI, 24.1%–112.9%). In contrast, the increase in late/unknown duration syphilis incidence was delayed. Among cisgender men who have sex with women, all-stage syphilis remained stable from 2007 to 2014 and increased 25.0% per year (95% CI, 14.0%–37.0%) from 2014 to 2022. Syphilis incidence increased steadily among men who have sex with men, with all-stage incidence increasing 7.0% per year (95% CI, 4.8%–9.2%) from 2007 to 2022. Median rapid plasma reagin titer among late/unknown duration cases increased significantly over the analysis period.
Conclusions
An explosive epidemic of syphilis is ongoing in King County. The delayed increase in asymptomatic late/unknown duration cases relative to early symptomatic cases suggests that there is a large and growing reservoir of recently acquired undiagnosed syphilis in women. New clinical and public health activities are urgently needed to control the growing epidemic.
This joinpoint regression trend analysis compared syphilis incidence in King County, Washington, among cisgender women and cisgender men who have sex with men. Results suggest that there is a large and growing reservoir of recently acquired, undiagnosed syphilis in women.
