Syphilis rise in gay, bisexual men causes worry

Syphilis has risen sharply among gay and bisexual men in the United States this decade, driving up the country's rate for the disease and placing these men at higher risk for
AIDS, federal health officials say.

Since dropping to the lowest level on record in 2000, the U.S. rate of syphilis, a sexually transmitted bacterial disease, has risen steadily, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said on Friday.
The rate rose five years in a row through 2005, the most recent year for which the
CDC had figures.

Gay and bisexual men accounted for 7 percent of syphilis cases in 2000 but more than 60 percent in 2005, CDC experts estimated.

"The most devastating consequence of this increase in syphilis cases would be an increase in the rates of
HIV infection," said Dr. Khalil Ghanem of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

"Syphilis and HIV have a close, deadly symbiotic relationship."

CDC epidemiologist Dr. James Heffelfinger said syphilis, like many other sexually transmitted diseases, raises the likelihood of infection by or transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.

Syphilis raises these risks by an estimated two to five times, he said.

Condom use can greatly reduce the risk of getting syphilis, which is readily curable with antibiotics in its early stages but capable of causing severe medical problems and even death if left untreated.

"We are seeing that syphilis is on the rise among a very specific subset of gay men: those who are having a great deal of sex with multiple sex partners," said Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association in San Francisco.

Many are HIV-infected or test positive for HIV for the first time when they learn they have syphilis, he said.