IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2005.070417_1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends in primary and secondary syphilis among men who have sex with men in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Heffelfinger, J.D.
  • Swint, E.B.
  • Berman, S.M.
  • Weinstock, H.S.

Abstract

Objectives. We assessed the epidemiology of primary and secondary syphilis in the United States and estimated the percentages of cases occurring among men who have sex with men (MSM). Methods. We reviewed US syphilis surveillance data from 1990 through 2003. We estimated the number of cases occurring among MSM by modeling changes in the ratio of syphilis cases among men to cases among women. Results. During 1990 through 2000, the rate of primary and secondary syphilis decreased 90% overall, declining 90% among men and 89% among women. The overall rate increased 19% between 2000 and 2003, reflecting a 62% increase among men and a 53% decrease among women. In 2003, an estimated 62% of reported cases occurred among MSM. Conclusions. Increasing syphilis cases among MSM account for most of the recent overall increase in rates and may be a harbinger of increasing rates of HIV infection among MSM. National efforts are under way to improve monitoring of syphilis trends, better understand factors associated with the observed increases, and improve efforts to prevent syphilis transmission.

Suggested Citation

  • Heffelfinger, J.D. & Swint, E.B. & Berman, S.M. & Weinstock, H.S., 2007. "Trends in primary and secondary syphilis among men who have sex with men in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(6), pages 1076-1083.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2005.070417_1
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.070417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2005.070417
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2005.070417?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aadland David & Finnoff David C. & Huang Kevin X.D., 2013. "Syphilis Cycles," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 297-348, June.
    2. Chesson, Harrell & Owusu-Edusei Jr., Kwame, 2008. "Examining the impact of federally-funded syphilis elimination activities in the USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2059-2062, December.
    3. Ashleigh R Tuite & Ann N Burchell & David N Fisman, 2014. "Cost-Effectiveness of Enhanced Syphilis Screening among HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Microsimulation Model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-12, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2005.070417_1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.