According to the report, the number of new syphilis infections will rise to 8 million by 2022.
The number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is increasing around the world and is of “great concern” to health authorities, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.
of report They found that four treatable sexually transmitted infections – chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and trichomoniasis – are responsible for more than 1 million infections every day among adults aged 15 to 49. In particular, cases of syphilis are increasing rapidly.
The number of new syphilis cases among adults aged 15 to 49 increased from 7.1 million in 2020 to 8 million in 2022, according to the report.
The incidence of congenital syphilis, which occurs when a mother transmits syphilis during pregnancy and her baby is born with the infection, is also increasing. From 2020 to 2022, the rate per 100,000 live births per year increased from 425 to 523.
Global trends mirror those seen in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report According to a paper published earlier in his year, the total number of syphilis cases will increase by more than 17% between 2021 and 2022 to 207,255, the highest number of reported cases since 1950. Reached.
The report also found that cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea are on the rise, another “concern”. As of 2023, nine countries have reported increasing levels of resistance (5% to 40%) to ceftriaxone, which is considered the final treatment for gonorrhea.
The data points to other problems, including a lack of testing for rising sexually transmitted infections and a lack of access to health care. moreover, Disruption caused by the new coronavirus pandemic Screening may have been delayed for many people.
“The rising incidence of syphilis is of great concern,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. statement“Fortunately, important progress has been made on many other fronts, including accelerating access to critical health commodities, including diagnostics and treatments.”
“We have the tools necessary to end these infectious diseases as a public health threat by 2030, but against the backdrop of an increasingly complex world, the ambitions countries have set for themselves will continue to rise. “We must ensure that we do everything in our power to achieve our goals,” the statement continued.
Not all trends showed an upward trajectory, and the report said the number of new HIV infections worldwide fell from 1.5 million to 1.3 million in 2022. But WHO noted that certain groups of people continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV: men who have sex with men; people who inject drugs; sex workers; transgender people; and people currently held in prisons and other closed settings.
WHO said in a press release that the expansion of sexually transmitted disease, HIV and hepatitis services has been successful and has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in several countries.
The report outlines several recommendations to reduce infection rates, including accelerating efforts to decriminalize and destigmatize victims of STIs and other infectious diseases, as well as strengthening the focus on primary prevention, diagnosis and treatment to raise awareness of STIs and infectious diseases.
