Monkeypox has been a heightened concern in several countries worldwide, especially Britain, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. So far, this is the largest international outbreak the world has seen.
The U.S. must immediately scale up the volume of and access to testing, not only for monkeypox but also for syphilis. For both diseases, we need to act quickly to ensure appropriate access to testing while also deploying pharmaceutical interventions. This multifaceted approach will help guarantee adequate surveillance and vaccination for people at high-risk before symptom onset.
Syphilis is a known sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can manifest in lesions in the groin area and can transmit through bodily fluid. The genital sores associated with syphilis can make it easier to transmit other diseases such as HIV — and especially pressing at the current moment, genital sores or lesions are also common transmission pathways for the current B1 monkeypox outbreak.
Testing for syphilis can also help identify cases of monkeypox, especially in populations that may be at higher risk of monkeypox. It’s possible we may even find that rising rates of syphilis were associated with the current monkeypox outbreak. We also have a chance to reduce the damage from undiagnosed syphilis cases, which may continue for years after an infection, and to reduce disparities in health outcomes for monkeypox and other STIs.
