The current study was designed to estimate the rate of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis in HIV patients in the United States in 2002. The researchers approximated the number of new cases of P&S syphilis in HIV-positive patients and divided that by the estimated number of people living with HIV. The investigators obtained values for the calculations from national syphilis and HIV/AIDS surveillance reports and other published sources.

The authors estimated the rates of new cases of P&S syphilis at 186 per 100,000 people living with HIV in 2002; 25 per 100,000 HIV-positive women; 60 per 100,000 HIV-positive men who have sex with women only; and 336 per 100,000 HIV-positive men who have sex with men. Of the 6,862 reported cases of P&S syphilis in 2002, an estimated 1,718 (25 percent) occurred in patients co-infected with HIV.

"The estimated rate of P&S syphilis in persons with HIV is considerably higher than that of the general population," the authors concluded. "These findings highlight the importance of providing sexually transmitted disease prevention and control services to HIV-infected persons."

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