Introduction: Incidence of syphilis is increasing in Europe in recent years, mainly due to high incidence in men, especially men who have sex with men (MSM).
Aim: To analyse sociodemographic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of men treated for syphilis in Bialystok in 2014 – 2018, to compare these of MSM and men who have sex with women (MSW).
Material and methods: Analysis of age, residency, professional activity, type of sexual contacts (steady vs. casual), marital status, stage of syphilis diagnosed, concomitant sexually transmitted infections (STIs), treatment, partner notification and follow-up attendance.
Results: Of 49 male patients with syphilis 26 (53.06%) were MSM and 23 (46.94%) – MSW. The average age was 33.67 and 35.87 years in MSM and MSW patients, respectively. Majority of patients in both groups were residents of urban areas. Tradesmen and those unemployed constituted the highest proportion in MSM and MSW group, respectively. MSM were in majority single and had only casual contacts while MSW, mostly married or engaged in steady relationship, had also casual contacts. Secondary syphilis was most frequently diagnosed in MSM and late latent syphilis - in MSW. Eight patients (16.32%) had concomitant HIV infection, in all diagnosed before syphilis. Contact tracing was successful in 26.92% of MSM and 39.13% of MSW. Follow-up was not done or not completed in half of MSM and more than half of MSW.
Conclusions: Results confirm that MSM play a crucial role in the current epidemics of syphilis. They have mainly casual sexual contacts and have symptomatic infection. In both MSM and MSW contact tracing and follow-up attendance is suboptimal.
Keywords: syphilis; men who have sex with men; men who have sex with women.
National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene