Syphilis, a sexually-transmitted disease that brought down everyone from Christopher Columbus to Oscar Wilde, is hitting contemporary New York hard. There was an 8 percent spike in cases last year, and Chelsea's taking the hardest hit—infection rates in the neighborhood are over six times the average across the city.
According to data from the Department of Health, there were 138 reported cases of syphilis in Chelsea in 2013, marking an infection rate of 93.3 cases per 100,000 people. That same year, there were 1,167 cases in the city total, marking an average of 14 cases per 100,000 people.
These numbers have been going up over the last ten years—in 2003, there were 531 reported cases citywide, 83 of which were in Chelsea. In 2012, there were 996 reported cases in the city, with 99 cases in Chelsea. Health officials say the spike may correlate with rates of unprotected sex among gay men in the city, and note that in 2013, 1,133 men contracted the disease, as compared to 27 women. "In NYC, the vast majority of syphilis cases are among men, specifically men who have sex with men,” the DOH told DNAinfo in a statement. “The increasing syphilis incidence is driven by unprotected sex.”
Syphilis can be contracted through vaginal, anal and oral sex. Though it's very treatable using antibiotics, most people don't have any symptoms (see here for a list, in case you do have them) , and if it's not caught early, the disease can damage major organs, even fatally. There are a number of city-run STD testing centers and LGBT health service centers where you can get a blood test if you think you may have contracted syphilis or another sexually transmitted disease.
