Health watchdog: ‘Significant’ surge in syphilis cases

There was a surge of 22% in the number of clinically confirmed cases of syphilis last year, new figures show.

The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) described the increase in the sexually transmitted infection in 2015 as “significant”.

The health watchdog expects that the final number of confirmed syphilis cases will be even higher when all of the enhanced surveillance forms are returned.