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Dangerous STI on the rise in SA

Health authorities are warning about a rise in infectious syphilis in South Australia across multiple populations, despite a reduction in testing during the COVID pandemic.

Aug 19, 2022, updated Aug 19, 2022
Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

SA Health figures show 143 cases of the sexually transmitted infection have been reported so far this year – the highest year-to-date number in at least five years.

At the same time last year there were 141 cases, compared to 88 for the same period in 2020, 86 in 2019 and 123 in 2018.

Doctors are being urged to be on the lookout for the dangerous disease and conduct more testing.

“Rates of infectious syphilis in South Australia continue to rise across multiple populations, despite a reduction in testing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesperson for SA Health told InDaily.

“Clinicians are reminded to maintain a high clinical suspicion for syphilis in all population groups, and to offer syphilis and HIV serology when testing for any other sexually transmissible infection (STI), including in routine asymptomatic check-ups for all sexually active people and during pregnancy.”

Syphilis is a highly infectious bacterial infection usually spread by sexual contact and occurs in stages.

It often begins as a painless sore, followed by a rash, then there are usually no symptoms until the final stage which may occur years later and can result in damage to the brain, nerves, eyes or heart.

It can be passed on before people know they have it and by those without symptoms.

“If left untreated, syphilis can cause a range of severe outcomes including neurosyphilis and congenital syphilis,” the SA Health spokesperson said.

If detected early, it is easy to treat with antibiotics.

Fortunately there have been no cases so far this year of congenital syphilis, which can cause birth defects and death. There were two cases reported in 2020.

It’s the second year in a row that doctors have been urged to increase vigilance, with reports last year of rising cases among heterosexuals across Adelaide, suggesting the disease was spreading outside of the epidemics among men who have sex with men and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.

SA Health said the SA Syphilis Response Working Group, formed by the Communicable Disease Control Branch, was continuing to monitor and coordinate the state’s response to the public health issue “with the dual aims of containing the current outbreak, while simultaneously developing sustainable, long-term strategies to improve the sexual health of populations in outbreak affected areas and more broadly”.

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