Syphilis - Annual Epidemiological Report 2022

Surveillance report

7 Mar 2024

Publication series: Annual Epidemiological Report

Time period covered: This report is based on data for 2022 retrieved from The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on 11 January 2024.

Cite:

In 2022, 35 391 confirmed syphilis cases were reported in 29 EU/EEA Member States, with a crude notification rate of 8.5 cases per 100 000 population, representing a 34% increase in the crude notification rate compared to 2021, and a 41% increase compared to 2018.

Executive summary

In 2022, 35 391 confirmed syphilis cases were reported in 29 EU/EEA Member States, with a crude notification rate of 8.5 cases per 100 000 population, representing a 34% increase in the crude notification rate compared to 2021, and a 41% increase compared to 2018.
Reported syphilis rates were eight times higher in men than in women and highest in 25–34-year-old men (40 cases per 100 000 population).
The majority (74%) of syphilis cases with information on transmission category were reported in men who have sex with men (MSM).
In 2022, ten countries reported more than half of the cases as primary and/or secondary syphilis, compared to five in 2021.
Overall, the trend in syphilis notifications increased between 2013 and 2022, mainly due to an increase in the number of cases among MSM. During the same period, there were very small fluctuations in syphilis notifications among heterosexuals at EU/EEA level, however 2022 marks the first year in the last ten with noticeable increases in syphilis among heterosexual men and women.
In the five years between 2018 and 2022, the number of syphilis notifications in HIV-negative MSM increased by 59% (in the seven countries that reported consistently), continuing the increasing trend observed since 2015.