The Czech Republic Annual Report 2010 Drug ... - Drogy-info.cz

Figure 6-5: Reported incidence of syphilis and gonorrhea among all patients and among injecting drug users in the Czech Republic
in 2000–2010 (Nechanská, 2011b)
In terms of a more detailed distribution of the disease in 2000–2010, early-stage syphilis (dg. A51) accounted for
almost 45% of cases, with over two thirds of cases involving injecting drug users. Syphilis in the late stage (dg. A52)
was diagnosed in more than 14% of the total number of cases, with just over 7% of cases involving injecting drug
users. Congenital syphilis (A50 dg.) was observed only in less than 1% of the total number of cases. As for
gonorrhoea, over 88% of cases were diagnosed as acute; almost 82% of acute conditions were associated with
IDUs.
In general, sexually transmitted diseases are marked by a significantly higher prevalence among males than females
– on average, more than a third higher for syphilis and 2.3 times as high for gonorrhoea in the period under study.
Among IDUs, however, the number of females infected with syphilis was higher than that of males (by more than
11%); but gonorrhoea in males was 38% higher than in females. For the period under study, injecting drug use was
reported in a greater proportion of syphilis cases in women compared to men by 7.3% of the total number of reported
cases in women, while the proportion of men was more than 2.5 percentage points lower.
Data on the prevalence of high-risk behaviour pertaining to the reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases
indicate that concurrent prostitution and injecting drug use is relatively common. In 2000–2010, injecting drug use
was found in a total of 20.0% of syphilis cases in commercial sex workers and prostitution was concurrently found in
17.9% of injecting drug users (mainly females) (Nechanská, 2011b); see Table 6-2.
Table 6-2: Commercial sex workers (CSWs) and injecting drug users (IDUs) among reported syphilis and gonorrhoea cases,
2000–2010 (Nechanská, 2011b)
Number of cases reported Proportion (%)
Infection
IDUs per CSWs per
Total CSWs IDUs CSWs and IDUs
CSWs IDUs
Syphilis 9,568 499 559 100 20.0 17.9
Gonorrhea 10,042 219 133 14 6.4 10.5
This year, for the first time, the annual report publishes data on the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB, dg. A31), which
are drawn from the Register of Tuberculosis. The register monitors people who have been diagnosed with active
tuberculosis or other mycobacterioses in the Czech Republic 84 and people screened in groups of active and inactive
tuberculosis or other mycobacterioses. In addition to the information related to the disease itself, the mandatory
report also contains records of associated circumstances, including whether the patient is a user of drugs other than
alcohol (regardless of the route of administration).
Between 1997 and 2010, the number of registered TB cases reported annually decreased 2.7 times. TB of
respiratory system was registered in 87% of the total number of reported tuberculosis cases. Men accounted for
63% of the total number of cases. In the period under study, 151 cases of TB among drug users were reported; their
number and proportion of the total has increased in recent years; see Figure 6-6. Of the total number of TB cases
reported in users of (non-alcohol) drugs, 96% were cases of tuberculosis of the respiratory system. During the period
under study, TB was reported in 130 male and 21 female drug users. With the declining trend in the total number of
84
I.e. infections caused by bacteria of the Mycobacterium genus, which include, in addition to M. tuberculosis, for instance, M. avium
complex, M. kansasii, or M. abscessus.
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