3795-EADV news n°30:EADV-News

16
The future of syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted
treponematosis. Globally, it acounts
for about 3% of all STIs, estimated by
the World Health Organization.
However, many countries of the former
USSR have experienced major epidemics
of syphilis in the 1990s. The beginning
of the 21st century also saw a rise in
syphilis morbidity in western countries
as well, especially among gay and HIVpositive
men. Congenital syphilis is an
international maternal health priority.
Update from the Task Force on Syphilis
If the 19th century was the era of the
syphilis clinical discovery in terms of its
clinical characterisation, then the 20th century was the era of syphilis scientific
discovery: Roux, Metchnikoff, Schaudin,
Wassermann, Erlich, Fleming and
many others have contributed to our
understanding and management of the
infection. The last major discovery of the
20th century was the revealing of the
genome of treponema pallidum in 1998
by a group of scientists from Texas, USA.
Americans are also pioneers in syphilis
epidemiology, launching the world’s first
syphilis elimination effort in 1999.
What can we expect in the near future?
Are we going to see a decline in the
global STI morbidity in times of a global
economic crisis? Yes and no. “Yes” in the
developed world and “no” in the
developing. And when the crisis is over,
it will probably be the reverse. What
are our tasks in between? One of the
major task for all European countries is to
establish a common STI policy and
standards and support STI science and
clinics.
EADV, with its venereology branch,
should be an active player in the global
STI arena.
Dr Andris Rubins
Dr Hab med, Professor & Chairman
Chair of Dermatovenereology
Riga Stradins University
Kr Valdemara Str 76-75
LV-1013 Riga, Latvia
Tel: +371 294 81 725
arubins@apollo.lv