Syphilis in patients of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology at Medical University of Warsaw in 2015 – epidemiological and clinical characteristics, and coexistence of other sexually transmitted diseases

Introduction. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can be asymptomatic or associated with various symptoms including systemic manifestations. A total of 1,253 cases of syphilis were registered in Poland in 2015. Syphilis frequently coexists with HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Objective. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the population of patients treated for syphilis in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical University of Warsaw, and to evaluate the coexistence of other sexually transmitted diseases with special reference to HIV infection.

Material and methods. The retrospective study involved an analysis of information included in medical files of 411 consecutive patients treated for syphilis in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical University of Warsaw, in 2015.

Results. As many as 92% of the analyzed patients treated for syphilis were males, and 72.5% were men who have sex with men. Eighty-one percent of the subjects were between 21 and 40 years of age. Out of 325 patients with known HIV test results, 26.5% were HIV-positive. Evaluation of coexistence of other sexually transmitted diseases was difficult because of incomplete data, however gonorrhoea (7.8%) and hepatitis C virus infection (2.7%) were diagnosed more often in the studied group of patients with syphilis than in the general population. Hepatitis C virus infection was found in 6% of individuals co-infected with syphilis and HIV.

Conclusion. The results confirm the need to screen patients with syphilis for HIV infection, and HIV-positive patients for syphilis.