Look, here’s something juicy to spark an eyebrow-raising conversation at your family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year: Health officials in Michigan uncovered a startling cluster of syphilis infections in women’s eyes.
The cluster, involving five women all connected to one infected man, has raised the potential that a new strain of syphilis bacteria may have adapted to become more proficient at causing systemic syphilis, especially the type that affects the eyes and central nervous system. Michigan health officials have published a report of the cluster and its implications in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Although eye syphilis, also known as ocular syphilis, is not a new phenomenon, cases are rare, occurring in only about 1% of syphilis cases. However, this cluster is the first documented case of heterosexual transmission and all the women had early-stage infections, unlike the usual type of cases which are found in people with late-stage syphilis or other associated risk factors.
Cluster cases
Beginning in March 2022, the case began to unfold when the first woman, Patient A, was referred to the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department by an ophthalmologist after presenting with symptoms of syphilis. She reported only one sex partner—a man she met online—who was later found to be the common link among all five women.
As the string of cases developed, state health officials repeatedly tried to reach out to the man, but to no avail. Moreover, patient A’s partner showed up at KCHCSD for a medical appointment, reporting multiple sex partners but declining to provide further identifying information.
All the women and the man have since been treated for their infections. Health officials remain hopeful that they have halted the spread of this unidentified T. pallidum strain, although the situation remains uncertain without broader surveillance and identification of all sex partners involved.
Additionally, this cluster of cases raises concerns over the state of sexually transmitted infections in the US, which have seen a steep rise in recent years. For instance, a report earlier this year by the CDC noted a 74% increase in national cases of syphilis from 2017 to 2021.
