Epidemiological profile of Acquired Syphilis Cases in Paraíba, Brazil (2015 – 2021)

Abstract

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum. The infection is chronic and characterized by periods of intermittent latency, generating primary, secondary and tertiary stages of the disease. It is transmitted predominantly via sexual route, but vertical transmission, from a pregnant woman to the developing fetus or during childbirth, can occur. Parenteral transmission is also possible, however on a smaller scale. The present study aimed to contextualize T. pallidum infection and provide a descriptive epidemiological analysis of the distribution of cases of the disease in the state of Paraíba, in Brazil, according to age group, sex, education, race/ethnicity and cities with the highest concentration of confirmed cases. Between 2015 and 2021, a total of 6150 cases of acquired syphilis were reported. The year of 2019 concentrated the highest number of cases of the disease (1820), with 29.58%. Brown individuals were responsible for 3586 cases (58.31%), men comprised 4016 cases (65.30%), the age group 20-39 years had 3668 cases (59.64%), people with complete high school presented 825 cases, but there was a significant percentage of notifications as "ignored/blank", comprising 2928 cases in the variable "education" and significantly hindering the interpretation of data.