Men were more likely to be diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) last year, mainly due to unsafe sexual practices, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
Last year saw 9,738 confirmed cases of syphilis and 7,605 cases of gonorrhea, with unprotected sex the main cause, the CDC said in a statement.
STIs primarily affect sexually active men younger than 50, it said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Veterans General Hospital via CNA
However, syphilis cases have decreased by 2 percent and gonorrhea cases by 8 percent from 2023, it added.
Although the number of cases is going down, syphilis cases in 2023 were the second-highest in five years, while gonorrhea remains among the top three most reported STIs, CDC spokeswoman Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told reporters.
Syphilis has a male-to-female reported case ratio of 5:1, while as many as 90 percent of gonorrhea cases were men, she said.
Syphilis is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum and spreads through direct contact with an infectious sore via skin-to-skin contact, mucous membranes and blood, with an incubation period of 10 to 90 days, she said.
The initial symptoms of syphilis are painless ulcers on the genitals, which can then develop into a rash, headache, fatigue and fever, she added.
If untreated, syphilis can cause tumors and life-threatening neurological and cardiovascular complications, Tseng said.
Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, with symptoms presenting in men as pus-like discharge and painful urination from two to seven days after infection, while women are often asymptomatic, she said.
If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to infertility in women, or spread to the rectum, throat or eyes, where it can cause gonococcal conjunctivitis, she added.
Both diseases are curable, although reinfection can occur, Tseng said.
The CDC recommends safe sex practices such as wearing a condom, using water-based lubricants and regular STI testing for those with active sex lives.
It also recommends that sexual partners encourage each other to get tested and treated if necessary to avoid “ping pong” style reinfections.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS