By NewsDesk @bactiman63
For the fourth year in a row, Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo (NIID) has reported more than 5,000 syphilis cases in the country.
In 2020, 5,784 syphilis cases were reported in Japan with 1,550 reported in Tokyo and 889 in Osaka.
Syphilis was a major issue in Japan until shortly after the end of World War II, but the total reported cases declined to several hundred annually until 2011, when a rebound began.
In 2014, more than 1,600 cases were reported as worldwide numbers also increased. In 2015, the number of syphilis cases topped 2,000, a four-fold increase from just five years earlier.
In 2016, Japan saw a 77 percent increase from 2015, topping 4,000 cases–and up by more than seven-fold from a decade ago.
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2017, 2018 and 2019 saw more than 5,000 cases and 6,000 cases.
Syphilis is a sexually-transmitted disease (STD) that can cause long-term complications if not treated correctly. Symptoms of syphilis in adults include a painless sore that will go away without treatment followed by a non-itchy body rash. If left untreated syphilis can lead to damage through the body including neurological and cardiovascular complications. Syphilis also increases the risk of HIV infection and, for women, can cause problems during pregnancy and for the newborn.
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