日本性感染症学会誌 Journal of Japanese Society for Sexually Transmitted Infections

We conducted an active epidemiological investigation on the syphilis cases (147 males and 85 females) reported in Okayama City from 2016 to 2018, and analyzed the number of patients and its symptoms, according to the specialized physicians who reported them. In addition to reports from the urology (36.6%), dermatology (27.6%), and obstetrics and gynecology (22.0%) departments, a number of syphilis cases were identified from other departments including internal medicine, cosmetic surgery, neurology, otorhinolaryngology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, and dentistry. Particularly, 47% of the 51 women reported from the obstetrics and gynecology department were asymptomatic, and 68.0% of the 25 women reported from the dermatology department had rose rashes. The frequency of each symptom largely varied depending on the medical department. Moreover, in the dermatology and obstetrics departments, a few pregnant patients were diagnosed with syphilis. Thus, gynecologic measures to prevent congenital syphilis in advance are crucial because of the increasing number of young female patients with syphilis. Furthermore, the information on the diagnosis and treatment of this disease and the risk of congenital syphilis is necessary for physicians from various medical departments, especially that of obstetrics and gynecology.