Syphilis Is on the Rise. Here’s What You Need to Know

Credit: M Suleman khan via Getty Images.

By Anissa Durham

STIs are rising among young people and men who have sex with men, and Black folks are disproportionally affected.

Thanks to the arrival of penicillin, improved access to health care, and public health campaigns, rates of syphilis decreased throughout the 20th century. But that started to change in the early 2000s — and now a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows rates of infection are the highest they’ve been since 1950.

According to the report, there were 207,255 cases of all stages and congenital syphilis in 2022. An increase of 17.3% since 2021, and a staggering 80% increase since 2018.

The rates of multiple sexually transmitted infections continue to increase among young adults, adolescents, and men who have sex with men. In 2022, half of the reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were for youth aged 15-24. And, 31.1% of all cases of these STIs were reported by Black or African American people.

Why this matters: Syphilis, if caught early enough, is treatable. But systemic inequities and barriers to access sexual health care continue to affect communities of color.

Some people feel the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is a factor in Black folks experiencing increasing rates of syphilis or causing people to refrain from testing. But, Dr. Reed Tuckson, a physician focused on health equity, says this is not the case.

“Because of this tragic study, our community has learned the devastation that this disease can cause and why it is so important to diagnose and treat it quickly,” he wrote in an email to Word In Black. “If we are outraged by this study, and we all should be, then we do honor to our brothers, and their partners, by being vigilant in eliminating syphilis from our community.”

Between 2021 to 2022, primary and secondary syphilis for women increased 19.2% in 36 states and the District of Colombia. These increases coincide with increases among men who have sex with men — highlighting a growing heterosexual syphilis epidemic.
In 2022, of the 3,755 cases of congenital syphilis, 282 resulted in stillbirths and infant deaths.
Men who have sex with men continue to be disproportionately impacted by STI’s including gonorrhea and syphilis, and co-infection with HIV is common. 36.4% of men with syphilis were people with diagnosed HIV.

Preventative steps: There are many steps someone can take to prevent syphilis and other STIs. Here’s what scientists and doctors recommend.

Using condoms, correctly, every time you have sex can reduce the risk of getting or giving syphilis. However, transmission can occur with lesions not covered by a condom.
Reducing the number of sexual partners decreases the chances of contracting syphilis. Being in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who does not have syphilis also reduces the risk.
If you are pregnant, getting tested at your first prenatal care visit can reduce the risk of transmission to your baby.

“It is also important to regularly check yourself for sores and rashes before having sex, especially because no morally responsible person would want to inadvertently spread a disease to another human being,” Tuckson says.

Bottom line: If you are having or had unprotected sex, or having sex with multiple partners, get tested. If you are diagnosed with syphilis, it’s important to let your sexual partners know so they can be tested too. The treatment for adults and adolescents with primary or secondary syphilis is benzathine penicillin — depending on the stage it can range from one to three doses. If caught early enough, syphilis can be cured.

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