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One in Four Young Sexual-, Gender-Minority Individuals May Experience Syphilis

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Nov 3, 2023.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Nov. 3, 2023 -- One-quarter of young sexual and gender minorities (YSGM) have syphilis at some point in their lives, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Casey D. Xavier Hall, M.P.H., Ph.D., from Florida State University in Tallahassee, and colleagues examined syphilis incidence and prevalence prospectively among YSGM. The analysis included data from 882 YSGM assigned male at birth participating in a Chicago-based prospective cohort study with two visits six months apart.

The researchers found that 25.1 percent of participants had a lifetime prevalence of syphilis. In this sample, 3.3 percent were incident cases, with a crude incidence rate of 6.76 per 100 person-years. Higher lifetime incidence rates of syphilis were seen among transgender participants (45 percent) and Black participants (42 percent).

"Nationally, about half of all syphilis infections are among gay and bisexual men," lead author Brian Mustanski, Ph.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a statement. "Beyond this worrying statistic, half of syphilis cases among these men occur in men living with HIV. Men who test HIV-negative who are diagnosed with syphilis then have an increased risk of getting HIV because syphilis facilitates HIV transmission."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted November 2023

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