Sentinel surveillance of syphilis among intravenous drug users in Yuxi city in Yunan province, 2003 - 2010

Objective To understand the prevalence trend of syphilis among intravenous drug users (IDUs) in Yuxi and provide evidence for the improvement of syphilis surveillance and intervention. Methods The statistical analysis was conducted on the surveillance data of syphilis in Yuxi form 2003 to 2010. Results Totally 2400 IDUs were surveyed, 52 of them were serologically positive for syphilis. The infection rate ranged from 0.4% to 4.3% during this period. The difference on gender specific commercial sex behavior practice had no statistical significance (2＝0.5,P 0.05), the difference on gender specific condom usage in last commercial sex had statistical significance (2＝11.5, P0.005) and the difference on HIV infection between syphilis positive IDUs and syphilis negative IDUs was without statistical significance (2=0.1, P 0.05). Conclusion The infection rate of syphilis indicated by sentinel surveillance might be lower than actual prevalence level. It is necessary to strengthen the surveillance of syphilis and conduct health education and behavior intervention in various forms among this population.