{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T22:56:19Z","timestamp":1790636179787,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]],"date-time":"2024-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1711497600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Some countries have reported a post-pandemic resurgence in syphilis prevalence, but trend data in the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region (WHO-WPRO), including Japan, are severely lacking. Thus, the present study compares the number of syphilis cases before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in some WHO-WPRO countries. In addition, temporal trends in the number of syphilis cases in Japan pre- and post-pandemic are described. Annual numbers of syphilis cases during the study periods from China, New Zealand, Australia and Japan were compared. Annual trends of the numbers of syphilis cases during the same study periods were examined in Japan. In 2020, the number of syphilis-positive cases decreased in all four countries. In 2021, though, China, Australia and Japan all showed an increase in the numbers of syphilis cases. However, the rate of increase in China (+2.8%) and Australia (+4.8%) was low compared to Japan (+36.0%). The number of syphilis cases in New Zealand in 2021 was 12.6% lower than in 2020. In 2022, the number of cases of syphilis in China was 7.4% lower than in 2021. The increase of syphilis-positive cases was approximately 6.3-fold higher in Japan compared to Australia (+66.2% vs. +10.5%) in 2022. In conclusion, post-pandemic resurgence of syphilis occurred in Australia and Japan, but not in China and New Zealand. The reason for the substantial increase in syphilis-positive cases in Japan remains unclear. Post-pandemic, prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections still require attention.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0298288","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]],"date-time":"2024-03-27T13:43:13Z","timestamp":1711546993000},"page":"e0298288","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":45,"title":["Rapid resurgence of syphilis in Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive study"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8548-3707","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Akira","family":"Komori","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7988-5758","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hirotake","family":"Mori","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenke","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Valenti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Toshio","family":"Naito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0298288.ref001","author":"World Health Organization department news","year":"2022","journal-title":"STIs in 2022: emerging and re-emerging outbreaks"},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1700","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiac.2022.08.022","article-title":"The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on other infections differs by their route of transmission: A retrospective, observational study in Japan.","volume":"28","author":"A Komori","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Infect Chemother"},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref003","first-page":"104239","article-title":"Rise of syphilis surge amidst COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: A neglected concern.","volume":"80","author":"A Nazir","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ann Med Surg (Lond)."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref004","author":"Public Health Agency of Canada","year":"2022","journal-title":"Infectious syphilis and congenital syphilis in Canada, 2021."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref005","unstructured":"National Institute of Infectious Diseases. National institute of infectious diseases home page. https:\/\/www.niid.go.jp\/niid\/en\/. Accessed: 17 January 2024. In Japanese."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref006","unstructured":"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of China. https:\/\/www.ndcpa.gov.cn\/jbkzzx\/c100016\/common\/list.html. Accessed: 9 February 2023. In Chinese."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref007","unstructured":"Institute of Environmental Science and Research. New Zealand Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Surveillance Dashboard. https:\/\/esr-cri.shinyapps.io\/2022STIAnnualDashboard\/#section-overview. Accessed: 17 January 2024."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref008","unstructured":"Australian Government The Department of Health and Aged Care. National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. https:\/\/nindss.health.gov.au\/pbi-dashboard\/. Accessed: 17 January 2024."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref009","author":"Japan Tourism Agency","year":"2022","journal-title":"Statistics\/White Paper."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1494","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiac.2022.07.017","article-title":"Syphilis in people living with HIV does not account for the syphilis resurgence in Japan.","volume":"28","author":"T Naito","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Infect Chemother"},{"issue":"21","key":"pone.0298288.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1637","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-11630-x","article-title":"The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sexually Transmitted Infections surveillance data: incidence drop or artefact?","volume":"7","author":"A Sent\u00eds","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S44","DOI":"10.1097\/OLQ.0000000000001463","article-title":"Decreases in Reported Sexually Transmitted Infections During the Time of COVID-19 in King County, WA: Decreased Transmission or Screening?","volume":"48","author":"A Berzkalns","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sex Transm Dis."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref013","unstructured":"Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health. Annual change in the number of HIV tests in Tokyo. https:\/\/www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp\/iryo\/kansen\/aids\/kensa\/tonai_kensa.html. Accessed: 25 February 2023. In Japanese."},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref014","author":"Division of STD Prevention, National Canter for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention","journal-title":"Preliminary 2021 STD Surveillance Data"},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e203833","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2020.3833","article-title":"Trends in Frequency of Sexual Activity and Number of Sexual Partners Among Adults Aged 18 to 44 Years in the US, 2000\u20132018","volume":"3","author":"P Ueda","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA Network Open"},{"key":"pone.0298288.ref016","unstructured":"European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Syphilis. In: ECDC. Annual epidemiological report for 2019. https:\/\/www.ecdc.europa.eu\/en\/publications-data\/syphilis-annual-epidemiological-report-2019. Accessed: 4 March 2023."}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0298288","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]],"date-time":"2024-03-27T13:43:22Z","timestamp":1711547002000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0298288"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Angelica Espinosa","family":"Miranda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0298288","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,27]]}}}