Florida: Gay Syphilis Cases Triple in Hillsborough County

While the total number of reported cases is small, syphilis, an STD in decline for years, is up sharply among gay and bisexual men in Hillsborough County, Fla., prompting county authorities to alert doctors recently to the threat. The three-fold increase in the past year is alarming health authorities because syphilis aids the transmission of HIV and indicates a casual attitude toward safe sex practices. The increase mirrors a nationwide trend reported recently by the CDC.

The trend is "something that was seen over a year ago, starting in San Francisco," said Keith Rosenbach, director of the Hillsborough County Health Department's communicable disease division. "It's affecting us here, too."

To reach men who are most at risk, the Health Department is attempting to send public health investigators into bars and other venues where gay men gather. Some counties, including Hillsborough, are using grant money to hire technicians to draw blood from volunteers for screening tests, said Phillip Moncrief, Florida's STD surveillance coordinator. An Internet bulletin board also is being considered, said Daniel L. Green, Pinellas County Health Department STD manager. The online screen names of possibly infected partners would be posted on the bulletin board to encourage those people to contact the local Health Department and be tested, Green said.

Up to 86 percent of Florida's syphilis cases occur in 10 large and medium-size counties, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. Hillsborough syphilis cases slightly increased to 59 from January through Oct. 15 this year, up from 56 in the same period last year -- but the number involving gay and bisexual men nearly tripled, from seven to 20. Last year, a gay or bisexual man represented 1 of every 10 syphilis cases. This year, it is about one-in-three. "If you take [gay and bisexual men] away, we almost have a sharp decrease in syphilis," said Rosenbach, an infectious disease specialist at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.

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