There were more than 207,000 syphilis cases in the US in 2022, a count that was last that high in 1950. The CDC on Tuesday shared the new data, which showed cases numbered 115,064 in 2018—meaning an 80% surge happened over a four-year period. Syphilis is still far outpaced by chlamydia, with nearly 1.7 million cases in 2022, but as the AP points out, syphilis is "considered more dangerous." Left untreated, it "can seriously damage the heart and brain and can cause blindness, deafness, and paralysis," per the AP. When transmitted during pregnancy, it can cause stillbirth and infant death.
The average rate of reported cases was 62.2 per 100,000 in 2022, reports USA Today, with South Dakota having the highest rate, at 84.3 per 100,000 people. The New York Times speaks with experts who share the factors they see as contributing to the rise, including:
- An increase in substance use, which is linked to "risky sexual behavior."
- Advances in HIV prevention and treatment have coincided with a decrease in condom usage.
- A decrease in the number of sexual health clinics, "along with the disease-intervention specialists and nurses who staffed them."
A potential bit of good news: The CDC found that gonorrhea, which has been on the rise since 2009, appears to have done an about-face, with cases dropping from more than 700,000 in 2021 to 648,000. The CDC says it's too soon to know whether that's the beginning of a downward trend for that STI. (A known antibiotic could be a fierce weapon in the STI fight.)
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