Syphilis in the Economic Center of South China: Results From A Real-Time, Web-Based Surveillance Program

Below:  Mapping of district-level annually syphilis incidence and hierarchical clustering results, Guangzhou, 2011 to 2013

Below:  Time series plot for reported syphilis cases in Guangzhou from 2005 to 2013

Below:  Syphilis distribution pattern at the county level in Guangzhou from 2011 to 2013

Below:  Age-specific primary/secondary syphilis cases in Guangzhou from 2005 to 2013

A total of 60,178 syphilis cases were reported during the period from 2005 to 2013, among which primary/secondary syphilis accounted for 15,864 cases (26.36 %), latent syphilis for 41,078 cases (68.26 %) and congenital syphilis for 2,090 cases (3.47 %). Moreover, primary/secondary syphilis burden slightly decreased from 17.5-18.0 cases per 100,000 people in the first years to 10.6 cases per 100,000 in 2013, with latent syphilis largely increasing from 18.5 cases per 100,000 to 43.4 cases per 100,000. Districts of Guangzhou could be classified into 3 epidemiological regions according to the syphilis burden over the last 3 years of the study period.

The burden of primary/secondary syphilis appears to be decreasing in recent years, whereas that of latent syphilis is increasing. Given the epidemiological features and the annual changes found in this study, it is suggested that future control programs should be more population-specific and spatially targeted.

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