Syphilis Infections Of The Eye Are On The Rise in Brazil

(Credit: Cessna152/Shutterstock) Brazil has seen a recent uptick in cases of syphilis affecting the eyes, an infection that can lead to serious vision loss if not treated quickly enough. While ocular syphilis is a rarely-seen form of the sexually transmitted infection — one study put rates at around 2 percent of syphilis patients — it can cause serious problems for those infected, including loss of vision, cataracts and glaucoma. This comes as rates of syphilis in the U.S. have trended noticeably upward in recent years, rising to 5.3 cases per 100,000 in 2013, more than double the rate in 2000. Researchers from University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and Flinders University in Australia looked at 127 people with ocular syphilis in Brazil between 2013 and 2015 to assess the complications of the disease. Other studies in the country have documented an increase in rates of the disease in the past ...