engleski

Syphilis among HIV-infected men who have sex with men during COVID-19 era in 2020 in Croatia

Background Croatia has a centralized care for people living with HIV (PLWHIV) and all patients are treated at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Zagreb. Precautionary measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection through quarantine and social distancing might have an impact on sexually transmitted diseases. The aim of this study was to report cases of syphilis in HIV+ men who have sex with men (MSM) and to describe whether there was a change during COVID-19 pandemic in year 2020 in comparison to years 2018 and 2019. Methods We reviewed all newly diagnosed syphilis cases among HIV infected MSM in Croatia during the year 2020 which included recent lockdown periods and compared them with previous years 2018 and 2019. The database of the Croatian HIV cohort was examined and we extracted clinical and treatment data for the syphilis cases. All cases with a diagnosis of syphilis were identified and reviewed for the clinical features and type of treatment. We describe our data with frequencies, median and first and third quartiles. Results A total of 140 patients had 171 episodes of syphilis. There were 33 patients with 35 episodes of syphilis in 2018, 45 patients with 47 episodes in 2019 and 82 patients with 89 episodes in 2020.Thus, we observed an 82% increase in the number of patients with syphilis and an 89% increase in episodes of syphilis between 2019 and 2020. The viral load was < 50 copies/ml in 94%, 93% and 95% of patients in years 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. There were no significant differences in the clinical presentation and treatment of syphilis in the period 2018 to 2020. Conclusions Measures undertaken to curb the COVID- 19 epidemic in Croatia, such as travel and movement restrictions, had no impact on the growing syphilis epidemic among HIV-infected MSM in Croatia. We observed a large increase in number of patients and episodes of syphilis during 2020 compared to 2019.

syphilis ; man ; HIV ; COVID-19

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