Syphilis cases in S. Korea surge amid stricter reporting rules

Amid reports of a spike in syphilis infections in the US, Japan, and other countries, recent data shows that South Korea is also experiencing a similar rise in its own cases after reporting requirements were tightened.

According to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, obtained and provided Tuesday by the Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Seo Mi-hwa, the country recorded 1,881 syphilis cases in the first eight months of this year.

This figure represents a 4.5-fold increase from the 416 cases reported for the entirety of 2023.

Syphilis cases in South Korea fell to 330 in 2020, when reporting requirements were relaxed, rising at a relatively slow pace to 339 in 2021 and 401 in 2022. Before the relaxation, there were 1,753 cases in 2019 and 2,260 in 2018, though latent and tertiary stage cases were not included in these years.

Of this year’s 1,881 cases, 838 were in the latent period. Other categorizations include 679 cases in the primary stage, 316 in the secondary stage, 39 in the tertiary stage. There were 9 cases of congenital syphilis reported among newborns.

In January, the KDCA reclassified syphilis as a third-degree infectious disease, moving it to a higher category in the infectious disease monitoring system.

After the revision, syphilis was placed under the mandatory surveillance system, which requires all medical institutions to report cases within 24 hours. Previously, the disease was tracked under the sentinel surveillance system, which depended on reports from only designated institutions.