Prevalence trend of syphilis in Zhejiang province,2004-2014

Objective To investigate prevalence trend of syphilis in Zhejiang province and to provide a scientific basis for control strategy development.Methods An epidemiological study was performed on syphilis cases reported from Zhejiang province between 2004 to 2014.Results The reported syphilis incidence was 67.32 per 100000,with an average annual growth rate of 7.09%.Obvious differences in the incidence were observed among various regions in Zhejiang province,but the increase trend for the incidence was the same for all regions except for the Zhoushan municipality.The male to female ratio was 0.80:1 for the incidence.The majority of the reported syphilis cases were aged 20-44 years but the proportion of the cases with the age group decreased from 72.41%in 2004 to 55.27%in 2014.Among the cases reported,38.45%were farmers and the number of retired people raised rapidly with an annual increase of 19.76%.Of the cases reported,the ratio of primary and secondary syphilis declined yearly,while that of latent syphilis increased.Conclusion Syphilis remains a major public health issue in Zhejiang province and the epidemic needs to be controlled effectively.