After years of decline, syphilis infections appear to be on the rise, especially among gay and bisexual men in Manhattan, city health officials warned yesterday.
Susan Blank, the assistant health commissioner, said there have been 57 reported cases during the first three months of the year.
There were less than half that many cases – 26 – reported in the last three months of 2000. There were 117 total cases last year.
“The 2001 increases are mainly among men who have sex with men, especially those living in the borough of Manhattan,” Blank said at a Health Department-sponsored forum at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in Chelsea.
Officials said of the 117 cases last year, 91 percent of patients were male with 74 percent being gay or bisexual.
The presence of syphilis enhances the transmissibility of HIV, and the new figures could be a harbinger of an increase in HIV transmissions, officials said.
Syphilis cases had been on a decline since 1988, when officials recorded more than 5,000 cases. By 1993, it was down to 1,000 cases and in 1998 just 82 cases citywide.
Officials urge anyone seeking more information to call the city’s Sexually Transmitted Disease hot line at 212-427-5120 or go to the Web site “www.nyc.gov/health”.