{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T15:06:07Z","timestamp":1787065567771,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":10,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"8","funder":[{"name":"JMT is supported by the Australian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine (Royal Australasian College of Physicians) Research Entry Grant."},{"name":"EPFC is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowships"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sex Transm Infect"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Syphilis infections continue to increase among men who have sex with men (MSM) in many countries, with rates often higher among HIV-positive MSM. There is limited understanding of the risk and determinants of syphilis transmission between men. We aimed to examine the concordance of early syphilis infection between male sexual partners and clinical factors associated with transmission.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Men attending Melbourne Sexual Health Centre with their male partners, where at least one was diagnosed with early syphilis, were identified from linkage of partner records between March 2011 and April 2016. Early latent syphilis was defined as a new asymptomatic syphilis presentation of less than 2\u2009years\u2019 duration. Associations between concordance and potential risk factors were examined using Fisher\u2019s exact test.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among 43 couples (86 men) identified, there were 13 couples (26 men) where both were diagnosed with early syphilis, representing a concordance rate of 30.2% (95% CI 17.2% to 46.1%). Among the 13 concordant couples, 5 men had primary syphilis (4 penile, 1 anal), 11 secondary syphilis (8 generalised rash, 3 penile, 2 anal, 1 oral lesion) and 10 early latent infections. Concordance was higher among couples where at least one partner had secondary syphilis compared with couples where neither partner had secondary syphilis (53% (9\/17) vs 15% (4\/26), P=0.016). Furthermore, concordance was higher among couples where one was HIV positive compared with couples where both were HIV negative (62% (5\/8) vs 23% (8\/35), P=0.042).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There was an overall concordance rate of 30%. Higher concordance rates for early syphilis infection between male sexual partners were associated with HIV and secondary syphilis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2017-053297","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,30]],"date-time":"2017-11-30T12:15:24Z","timestamp":1512044124000},"page":"571-573","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Clinical factors associated with syphilis concordance in men in sexual partnerships: a cross-sectional couples study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"94","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2714-4680","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janet M","family":"Towns","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Huffam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1766-0657","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric P F","family":"Chow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ian","family":"Denham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Ryan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Clare Elizabeth","family":"Bellhouse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melanie","family":"Bissessor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Catriona S","family":"Bradshaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6920-7710","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tiffany","family":"Phillips","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephen","family":"Graves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher K","family":"Fairley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcus Y","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21093","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES2015.20.15.21093","article-title":"Contribution of transmission in HIV-positive men who have sex with men to evolving epidemics of sexually transmitted infections in England: an analysis using multiple data sources, 2009-2013","volume":"20","author":"Malek","year":"2015","journal-title":"Euro Surveill"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1933.02740500035009"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.3","first-page":"1","article-title":"Studies in the epidemiology of syphilis. III. Conjugal syphilis: astatistical study of a series of 226 married patients whose spouses were examined","volume":"22","author":"Klingbeil L J","year":"1941","journal-title":"Vener Dis Inform"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.4","first-page":"132","article-title":"The incidence of infection in contacts of early syphilis","volume":"29","author":"Von Werssowetz","year":"1948","journal-title":"J Vener Dis Inf"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"966","DOI":"10.2307\/4591989","article-title":"Epidemiologic treatment of contacts to infectious syphilis","volume":"78","author":"Moore","year":"1963","journal-title":"Public Health Rep"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/sti.59.4.217"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.7","unstructured":"Public Health Laboratory Network DoH, Australian Government. Syphilis laboratory case definition. 2012 (acessed 3 Mar 2015)."},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.01578-06"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"787.e1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2015.04.018","article-title":"Unexpectedly high prevalence of treponema pallidum infection in the oral cavity of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with early syphilis who had engaged in unprotected sex practices","volume":"21","author":"Yang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin Microbiol Infect"},{"key":"2020050723340593000_94.8.571.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/jiv591"}],"container-title":["Sexually Transmitted Infections"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/sextrans-2017-053297","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,26]],"date-time":"2020-09-26T06:19:52Z","timestamp":1601101192000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/sextrans-2017-053297"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,30]]},"references-count":10,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,22]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/sextrans-2017-053297"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/sextrans-2017-053297","relation":{},"ISSN":["1368-4973","1472-3263"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1368-4973","type":"print"},{"value":"1472-3263","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,30]]}}}