Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge

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Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge, reaching the highest rate of new infections recorded since 1950, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

More than 207,000 cases were diagnosed in 2022, the last year for which data are available. That represents an 80 percent increase since 2018, and 17 percent over the previous year’s tally, according to a new C.D.C. report.

The rates soared in every age group, including newborns. In November, the C.D.C. said more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago. The disease caused 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths in 2022.

Experts pointed to a slew of reasons for the continued increases in syphilis and other S.T.I.s.

Substance use, which is tied to risky sexual behavior, has risen. With better prevention and treatment for H.I.V., condom use has fallen out of vogue — decreasing by about 8 percentage points between 2011 and 2021 among high school students, for example.

And, crucially, there are far fewer sexual health clinics, along with the disease-intervention specialists and nurses who staffed them.

Syphilis has been increasing even in countries with national health care, because “sexual health services remain inadequate relative to the need pretty much everywhere,” said Dr. Jay Varma, chief medical officer at Siga Technologies and a former deputy commissioner of health for New York City.

“But it’s particularly a problem here in the United States,” Dr. Varma said.

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