title: Syphilis in an urban community.
abstract: Recent reports of changes in the epidemiology of syphilis prompted a review of syphilis in our urban community. All records of positive syphilis serology reported to the City of Scarborough Health Department between 1990-94 were reviewed for key epidemiological variables. While infectious stages of syphilis were reported more often among young adults, incidence for all stages increased among successive age groups, with a male/female ratio of 1.0. One in five cases were identified during immigration screening, with a disproportionate number of cases immigrating from the Caribbean, Africa and Subcontinental India. Overall, the incidence of syphilis decreased during the study. However, a correlation of 0.95 was found between the provincial incidence of syphilis and number of tests ordered. The observed decrease in syphilis, therefore, may represent a decrease in detection owing to lack of testing.
authors.affiliation: Community Medicine Residency, University of Toronto. donna.reynolds@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Evangelista
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Notenboom
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: D'Cunha
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013590:Syphilis, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology