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ARGENTINA | 07-11-2024 16:11

‘Growing public health problem’ – Syphilis infections hit three-decade high in Argentina

Health Ministry data shows cases have risen from just over 12,000 in 2021 to more than 32,000 in 2023 – the highest recorded tally in three decades.

Official data from Argentina’s Health Ministry shows that syphilis infections are on the rise and at their highest level in three decades.

More than 32,000 cases were recorded last year, according to government data, continuing a trajectory that is causing experts to warn of “an important growing public health problem.”

Since 2018, cases have increased by 42 percent, a report from the Health Ministry warned.

Syphilis is the most common sexually-transmitted infection (STI) in Argentina, according to data from the portfolio’s National Epidemiologic Bulletin. 

Numbers are notably on the rise among young people aged 15 to 34. On average around 88 cases are reported per day, according to last year’s figures.

The 32,293 cases recorded in 2023 looks set to be repeated this year, looking at current incomplete data for the year to date.

On a historical scale, the figures compare unfavourably. Putting aside the years of the Covid-19 pandemic (2019, 2020, 2021), when cases were affected by quarantine rules,  in 2018, there were 22,734 cases. 

Back in 1994, less than 3,000 cases were reported, though experts note that identifying STIs is much easier today, as is treating them.

Nevertheless, infections are on the rise. Over the period lasting 2018-2023, a total of 129,620 total cases in the general population were reported to the authorities.

“Starting in 2022, and during the change of the method of notification based starting then on nominal records, an upward trend of cases and rates was resumed, reaching a notification rate above 69 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants,” reads the Health Ministry’s report.

Of the most affected age groups, there were more cases last year in the ages from 20 to 24, followed by 25 to 29 and 30 to 35, with an incidence rate of 219, 185 and 126 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants respectively. 

As for gender, female cases are more common (55.4 percent), especially between 15 and 39 years old. Most cases among males start at age 50.

The most affected areas of the country were the south of Argentina and Cuyo region, followed by the northeast and northwest.

Regarding the increase in recorded infections, experts highlighted the higher number of cases and the better diagnosis tools.

“In order to assess the observed trend, it is important to take into account the changes in surveillance procedures, the growing integration of effectors to the surveillance process,” wrote the report’s authors.

They highlighted “strategies to improve access to diagnosis as a public health measure, which helps a timely treatment of cases and helps disrupt chains of transmission, all of which may help go deeper into the increase of notifications, together with the increase in the incidence of syphilis in the population.”

The report concludes: “Syphilis remains an important and growing public health problem. Improvement in quality and coverage of information is a strategic tool to guide and foster actions for the prevention and control of syphilis by the different players involved.”


– TIMES/NA/PERFIL

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