Epidemiological surveillance of sexually-transmitted diseases.: Spain 1995-2003

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major public health problem due to their morbidity, complications and sequels, and also by their relationships with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Several countries have been described a resurgence of STIs since the mid-1990's. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Descriptive study of the STIs monitored by epidemiological surveillance, using as source of information the Spanish National Network of Epidemiological Surveillance data, from 1995 to 2003. RESULTS: In 2003, 1069 new cases of gonorrhoea (rate: 2.55 per 100,000 population) and 917 new cases of syphilis (rate 2.19 per 100,000 population) were notified to the Spanish Compulsory Disease Reporting System. Between 1995 and 2003, gonorrhoea incidence rates decreased in a 78% and syphilis rates diminish in a 15%. Nevertheless, between 2001 and 2003, both gonorrhoea and syphilis incidence rates have increased in a 29% and 27% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The data analyzed in this period show an evident change in the trend of the incidence of these STIs. This fact has to be confirmed in the future.