Journal article

Duration of syphilis symptoms at presentations in men who have sex with men in Australia: Are current public health campaigns effective?

EPF Chow, K Dutt, G Fehler, I Denham, MY Chen, C Batrouney, J Peel, TRH Read, CS Bradshaw, CK Fairley

Epidemiology and Infection | Published : 2016

Abstract

The rapid rise in syphilis cases has prompted a number of public health campaigns to assist men who have sex with men (MSM) recognize and present early with symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the temporal trend of the duration of self-report symptoms and titre of rapid plasma reagin (RPR) in MSM with infectious syphilis. Seven hundred and sixty-one syphilis cases in MSM diagnosed at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) from 2007-2013 were reviewed. Median duration of symptoms and RPR titres in each year were calculated. The median durations of symptoms with primary and secondary syphilis were 9 [interquartile range (IQR) 6-14] days and 14 (IQR 7-30) days, respectively. The overal..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) programme grant


Awarded by Early Career Fellowships from the Australian NHMRC


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) programme grant (grant number 568 971). EPFC is supported by the Early Career Fellowships from the Australian NHMRC (no. 1091226).