Syphilis Control in the Postelimination Era: Implications of a New Syphilis Control Initiative for Sexually Transmitted Disease/Human Immunodeficiency Virus Programs

Network Interconnectivity and Community Detection in HIV/Syphilis Contact Networks Among Men Who Have Sex With Men

“…24,25 Beyond the detection of specific network communities with elevated interconnectivity and potentially heightened risk of HIV exposure among syphilis network members, we observed interconnectivity between the HIV and syphilis networks overall. There is a robust history of combined HIV and syphilis control efforts, 26 and in the absence of constraints necessitating more focused interventions, HIV and syphilis prevention interventions that attempt to reach the full combined network have the potential to make a strong impact. For example, NC and other jurisdictions have recently expanded HIV prevention services to include referrals for PrEP by DIS during contact tracing for both HIV and syphilis.…”

Sexually Transmitted Infections of the Colon and Rectum

“…Syphilis is a systemic illness caused by the bacterium and spirochete Treponema pallidum, with estimated reports of 35,000 new cases in 2018, a substantial rise of over 70% from 2014 [1]. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the case numbers of syphilis hit such a nadir that there was discussion regarding the elimination of the disease in the United States [42,43]. However, since that time the rate of syphilis has been on the rise with a resurgence of the disease in the MSM and HIV+ MSM populations such that a diagnosis of early syphilis increases the risk of being diagnosed with HIV, and the open ulcers of syphilis are thought to facilitate HIV transmission [44,45].…”

Social and behavioural determinants of syphilis: Modelling based on repeated cross-sectional surveys from 2010 and 2017 among 278,256 men who have sex with men in 31 European countries

“… 3 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 Hypothesised drivers for these changes include elimination of HIV infectivity in HIV positive men on treatment and elimination of HIV susceptibility through chemoprophylaxis (in particular PrEP) in HIV-negative men. 12 , 19 , 20 …”

“…Further, rising syphilis rates have not been curbed, in part, due to the insufficient scale of prevention services as part of syphilis programmes, including better performance in active case-finding and curing cases, healthcare workers awareness, laboratory capacity and healthcare infrastructure, and funding. 12 , 19 Coverage of preventive healthcare services has been particularly problematic in populations with high incidence of STI such as MSM, for whom coverage of services such as case finding may be particularly problematic as stigmatised sexual minority and sexual settings with a high degree of anonymity.…”