Epidemiological analysis of syphilis in Haiyan county of Zhejiang province,2002 - 2008

Objective To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and epidemic trends of syphilis in Haiyan county, Zhejiang province. Methods Descriptive epidemiological analysis of the data on syphilis epidemics in Haiyan from 2002 to 2008 was conducted. Results The average annual incidence of syphilis was 37.90/lakh in Haiyan from 2002 to 2008. In this county, the incidence of syphilis increased from 7.66/lakh in 2002 to 113.76/lakh in 2008, with an average annual increment of 56.78 percent, which was significant ( 2= 744.43, P0.005). The age of onset for most patients was 20 to 39 (51.91%). The highest incidence of males was found in the 50-to 59-year-old group (68.00/lakh) and that of females was in the 20-to 29-year-old group (81.92/lakh). In total, the annual average incidence was 39.46/lakh in males and 36.35/lakh in females without significant difference (2 = 1.65, P0.05). Farmers, workers and migrant laborers were the primarily affected occupations, accounting for 49.20%,16.79% and 7.11%, respectively. Conclusion In view of the rapidly growing prevalence of syphilis in Haiyan, great importance should be attached to the improvement of health education, promotion of safe sex activities and surveillance of high-risk and susceptible population to effectively control the disease.