Host immunity and synchronized epidemics of syphilis across the United States

Nicholas C. Grassly (), Christophe Fraser and Geoffrey P. Garnett
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Nicholas C. Grassly: Imperial College London
Christophe Fraser: Imperial College London
Geoffrey P. Garnett: Imperial College London

Nature, 2005, vol. 433, issue 7024, 417-421

Abstract: Syphilis cycles in the US Repeated epidemics of syphilis across the United States during the past 50 years have followed a roughly ten-year cycle. These fluctuations have been attributed to changes in sexual behaviour, but a new analysis, based on case report data collected from 68 cities since 1941, suggests that they are natural oscillations in disease incidence linked to host immunity. The increasing synchronicity of epidemics among US cities is evidence for an increasingly connected sexual network: current synchronized syphilis outbreaks may be due to a build-up of non-immune individuals rather than a return to unsafe sexual behaviour. On the cover, the syphilis pathogen Treponema pallidum in a coloured transmission electron micrograph, x16,000 approx. (Alfred Pasieka/ Science Photo Library).

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03072

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