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Houston Health Department Sees Spike in Syphilis Cases

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Todd Ackerman, Houston Chronicle)
Syphilis is spiking in Houston and Harris County, mostly the result of men having sex with men, local health officials said Wednesday. Houston’s health department reported a near doubling in the number of new infectious syphilis cases during the first eight months of 2012 compared to the same period last year. The increase reverses a trend of syphilis cases decreasing between 2008 and 2011.

“It’s very alarming,” said Lupita Thornton, program manager for sexually transmitted diseases for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. “We hope it’s alarming to the Houston-area community so people who know they’re at risk get tested.”

Thornton said no single factor caused the outbreak, and a health department spokeswoman said the figures may simply reflect the normal “waxing and waning” of disease statistics. But the top factors they cited were stepped-up surveillance efforts, such as city-sponsored hip-hop concerts that feature free screenings for STDs, and the use of social networking to arrange sexual encounters. Thornton said the trend is most pronounced in urban areas around the country and predominantly affects gay and bisexual men.

Numerous cities in the United States and around the world have reported syphilis spikes in recent years, but the overall rate nationally is down 1.6 percent since 2009, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1999, a time of historically low rates, the CDC launched a syphilis elimination effort, particularly targeted at the southern part of the country, where rates were the highest and racial health inequalities the greatest. The effort, not considered a success, is ongoing.

In an alert sent Wednesday, Houston health officials called for medical providers, particularly those who primarily treat men, to determine whether their patients are at increased risk for syphilis. It called for providers to offer testing to those at risk, treatment to people and their sexual partners who are found to be infected and to report any cases to local health departments.
(Read more of this story at the Houston Chronicle)

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