The study does not look past 2003, but statistics suggest the trends continued through 2005, Heffelfinger said. There were 8,724 new cases of syphilis recorded in 2005.
Khalil Ghanem, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said rates among gay men could be going up for several reasons, including illicit drug use and "safe-sex fatigue." In addition, he said, prevention messages might have been "drowned out" by talk about how medications are doing a great job of keeping AIDS patients alive.
"We’ve been seduced by these amazing drugs and we’ve fallen behind in our prevention efforts," Ghanem said. "We have to get back on track with prevention messages. That’s the only way we will curb this outbreak."
'"/>
Source:Center for the Advancement of Health