What question did this study set out to answer?

Assess the demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings of syphilis cases over a decade in a dermatology clinic.

March 26, 2026Open Access

Clinical and Epidemiological Trends of Syphilis Cases Between 2014–2023: A Ten-Year Single-Center Experience

Key Points

Assess the demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings of syphilis cases over a decade in a dermatology clinic.
Retrospective analysis of syphilis patients' data from 2014 to 2023.
Evaluation of demographic characteristics and clinical features.
Analysis of laboratory results and treatment approaches.
57 patients with syphilis were analyzed, with 86% male and an average age of 36.5 years.
Primary syphilis was found in 17.9%, secondary in 67.9%, and latent in 14.3% of cases.
12 patients were co-infected with HIV, all male.

Abstract

Background/aim: The number of syphilis patients has been increasing in our country in recent years. Our study aimed to contribute to epidemiological data by evaluating the demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings, presence of concomitant sexually transmitted diseases, and treatment approaches of syphilis cases presenting to our dermatology outpatient clinic.Materials and Methods: The data of the patients with syphilis, who applied to the dermatology outpatient clinic of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital between 2014 and 2023, were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic characteristics, clinical features, laboratory results and treatments of the patients with syphilis were evaluated.Results: Of the 57 patients with syphilis included in the study, 49 (86%) were male, 8 (14%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 36.5 ± 14.0 years with a range of 3 months to 62 years. Except for one case of congenital syphilis, the other cases were acquired syphilis. Of the acquired syphilis cases, 10 (17.9%) had primary syphilis, 38 (67.9%) had secondary syphilis, and 8 (14.3%) had latent syphilis. Genital chancre was present in all cases with primary syphilis. Patients with secondary syphilis had one or more cutaneous signs with different characteristics and the most common finding was mucous patches/plaque in the oral mucosa. Twelve of the syphilis patients were infected with HIV, and all of these patients were male. All patients received penicillin treatment except 3 patients with penicillin allergy. Conclusion: Syphilis continues to be a significant public health problem in our country. Patients with syphilis must undergo HIV screening.

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