Syphilis cases are all-time high nationwide and have even reached epidemic levels in some areas of the country.  In San Francisco, early stage syphilis increased 25% in 2010 from the previous year. Between January 2010 and November 2010, 582 cases of syphilis were reported making this a record high for the city. During the last epidemic, syphilis cases peaked at 552 incidences.

With one month left to calculate still, health officials find this increase troubling. This increase is particularly concerning because it is not affecting any new demographics and increasing only among gay men. There are no increases among heterosexual men or women.

The typical syphilis patient is a white male in his 40s or 50s. Additionally, almost one third of patients who tested positive for syphilis reported using methamphetamines in the last 12 months and 60% were HIV positive. Drug use can hinder condom use promoting the spread of syphilis, HIV, and other STDs.

Syphilis can be difficult to diagnose. The first symptom is a single, painless chancre that eventually clears up on its own. However, patients often do not seek treatment until a reddish rash appears during the secondary stages.  Since syphilis has been fairly rare until recently, doctors often misdiagnose the condition at this point.

The San Francisco Department of Health is developing a campaign to promote awareness and testing for syphilis. Health official recommend that gay males are screened every three to six months for syphilis.

Source:  sfexaminer.com/local/2011/01/syphilis-cases-hit-all-time-high

Despite being credited with discovering the New World and being eternally immortalized through a national holiday, Christopher Columbus’s legacy has been marred with one particularly slanderous accusation throughout the years. For the past half millennium, Columbus and his crew were blamed by both the public and disease experts for bringing syphilis back to Europe after their first voyage across the Atlantic.

However, a recent study revealed in October 2010 has proved that the disease was present in Europe prior to 1492. Several pre-Columbian skeletons dating from 1200-1250 AD and 1250-1400 were exhumed in London and discovered to have rough patches and deformities of the skull and limbs, characteristics consistent with late stage syphilis, thus vindicating Columbus and his crew from being the original carriers of this disease.

While a posthumous apology goes out to Columbus, syphilis still remains a health concern even 500 years later. Here are some facts about this disease:

Syphilis, often misspelled sifilis, syphillis, and siphilis, is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection that is treatable with antibiotics. If untreated, it will progress through four stages with increasingly serious symptoms. The first stage, early or primary syphilis, occurs 10-90 after infection and is marked by a single, painless sore or chancre on the genitals or mouth.  The second stage begins six week to six months after exposure and is characterized by a reddish-brown rash on the palms of the hand and soles of the feet and syphilitic warts.

Symptoms of primary and secondary syphilis will clear up with or without treatment, but if untreated the infection will progress to the third stage, latent syphilis. During the latent stage, the infection lies dormant in the body, and there are no symptoms present. This occurs 2 to 30+ years after infection.

If syphilis still isn’t treated, it may progress to the late stage. Late stage syphilis is characterized by severe problems with the heart, brain, and nerves which can lead to paralysis, blindness, insanity, and death.  Even in its most serious stage, the effects of syphilis can be reversed with proper treatment.

Until 2000, the reported rate of syphilis in the US was at its lowest level since 1941. Since 2001, syphilis rates have been gradually rising.  Syphilis has been disproportionally affecting African-Americans with reported rates 16 times higher than that for white Americans.

Sources: webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/syphilis; ashastd.org; www.myfoxphilly.com/dpps/news/christopher-columbus-cleared-of-bringing-syphilis-to-europe-dpgonc-20101025-fc_10269941