Radio Workshop

Syphilis Rising (Transcript)

by Emily Grossman

INTRO:

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced this month that syphilis rates rose by 55 percent in 2002, compared to the previous year. The majority of the 436 individuals infected are gay or bisexual men. Emily Grossman reports.

NARRATION:

Syphilis is easily treated with penicilin. Doctor Magdalena Sobieszcyk (SOBIESHTEK), a fellow in infectious diseases at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, says the first symptom of syphilis is usually an ulcer in the groin area.

TAPE: SOBIESZCYK: The ulcer of syphillis is um, usually, often painless and it's also, it doesn't, doesn't ooze.

NARRATION:

Since the ulcers aren't painful, Sobieszcyk says the infection often goes untreated. She says she can only speculate on the reason for the jump in infection rates.

TAPE: SOBIESZCYK: Maybe it's associated with a departure of a from, uh, you know, safer sex practices, associated, you know sort of in concomitant use of recreational drugs which sort of causes impaired judgement and people don't use condoms when they have um, when they have sex and leads to a higher transmission of syphillis.

NARRATION:

Since 2000, syphilis rates have increased almost 300 percent. Healthcare providers say that an increase in unprotected sex among gay and bisexual men is a likely part of the equation, though it is possible to contract the infection by touching open wounds in the skin. The Health Department's report showed that 67 percent of the men who contracted syphilis last year had a pre-existing HIV infection. One hundred fifty-four of those men knowingly engaged in activities that put others at risk for HIV as well as syphilis. The Gay Men's Health Crisis, a non-profit organization that does outreach and advocacy for HIV prevention, started syphilis testing when rates first began to increase in 2000.

TAPE: TYE: Those that are already infected with HIV need messages and materials and interventions that specifically target them, around how protect themselves from other infections with STIs, but how to prevent themselves from infecting someone else.

NARRATION:

Matthew Tye, the managing director of program services at Gay Men's Health Crisis, says the majority of gay and bisexual men practice safe sex. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be outreach to those who don't. The organization sends trained volunteers to bars, street corners and sex clubs to educate the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community about sexually transmitted infections.

TAPE: TYE: Not only are we going out and talking to people about, do you know about HIV and do you know how to prevent it and let me give you some condoms, but do you know about syphilis and do you know what that is and have you heard of these rising rates of infection and do you want a condom and some information on HIV?

NARRATION:

Sobieszcyk says limiting the number of sexual partners and knowing a partner's sexual history can help reduce the risk of contracting syphilis.

TAPE: SOBIESZCYK: Getting tested for syphillis sort of annually, even if you were asymptomatic, but if you were sort of in a so-called high risk population, there's a blood test that you can do, um, that could uh indicate whether you've been exposed to syphilis or not and getting it done once a year is a good idea.

NARRATION:

The city's department of health offers free testing for syphilis at clinics around the city.

For Columbia Radio News, I'm Emily Grossman.

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