The number of syphilis cases reported to the HSE has risen to record levels. There were 398 cases of early infectious syphilis last year, a rise of 31 per cent since 2016, according to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Already this year, there have been 408 cases of the disease up to the start of November, more than in the whole of 2017. The vast majority of cases were among men (96 per cent) and men who have sex with men (MSM – 87 per cent).

The centre says the number of cases is the highest on record since enhanced surveillance of the disease began in 2000.

People with multiple syphilis reinfections may play an important role in the transmission of the disease, according to the HPSC, which says most of the reinfection cases involve people who are also HIV positive.

Meanwhile, the number of recorded cases of gonorrhoea also grew last year, by 15 per cent to 2,249. This represents a slowdown in growth, however, from 2016 when a 51 per cent increase was recorded.