Syphilis Cluster Raises Concern of Drug Resistant and More Severe Disease

Saturday - November 25 2023, 12:37 UTC - 1 year ago

Michigan health authorities recently found a cluster of early stage syphilis caused by a new strain of the bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics and is more likely to infect the eyes and the central nervous system. This is concerning as it raises the worry that the strain can cause more severe and widespread disease.

In a shocking discovery, health authorities in Michigan found a cluster of syphilis infections affecting the eyes of five women who had sexual contact with the same man. This is the first time such a cluster has been reported in the US, and it raises the concern that a new variant of the syphilis bacteria may have evolved to cause more severe and widespread disease.

CDC report .

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) reported the cluster in the latest issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report suggests that the new strain of syphilis may be more likely to infect the eyes and the central nervous system, leading to serious complications such as blindness, deafness, and neurosyphilis.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum (formerly Spirochaeta pallida). If left untreated, syphilis can spread to various organs and tissues, including the eye, the inner ear, and the brain. This can result in eye syphilis or ocular syphilis, which can cause vision loss, eye pain, and inflammation. It can also cause inner ear syphilis, which can cause hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo. And it can cause neurosyphilis, which can cause headaches, confusion, paralysis, and dementia.

However, these complications are rare and usually occur in the late stages of syphilis, when the infection has been present for years. They are also more common in older people who inject drugs or who have HIV. According to a large study published last year, only about 1 percent of syphilis cases develop ocular, inner ear, or neurosyphilis.

But the cluster in Michigan is different. The five women who developed eye syphilis were all in the early stages of the infection when the symptoms are usually mild and limited to the genitals. They were all between 40 and 60 years old, and none of them injected drugs or had HIV. They also acquired the infection through heterosexual contact, which is uncommon for ocular syphilis.

The cluster was detected between March and July 2022, when the five women sought medical attention for their eye problems. They all reported having sex with the same man whom they met online. The man, however, was uncooperative and evasive when contacted by the health officials. He claimed he had left the state and did not attend a scheduled appointment. Later, it was found that he had visited an emergency department in January 2022 for genital and anal sores. Still, he was not tested for syphilis and was treated for a suspected herpes infection.

Latent syphilis detected at the source .

The health officials also learned that the man had no signs of syphilis, no vision problems, and no hearing impairment when he finally appeared for an appointment in May 2022. Laboratory testing confirmed he had early latent syphilis, a stage of the disease that occurs within a year of initial infection when symptoms appear to resolve, but the condition is still present. The man admitted to having multiple sex partners in the previous year but refused to reveal their identities.

The women also had latent syphilis, indicating that transmission likely occurred months or even years before. Follow-up testing showed that the strain of syphilis was resistant to the usual antibiotics used to treat this infection. This suggests that the bacteria had evolved to become more drug resistant and was able to cause more severe disease.