Serological survey of status of Treponema pallidum infection in Nanshan District of Shenzhen

Objective To investigate the epidemical features of Treponema pallidum infection in outpatients and evaluate the results of TRUST,TP-ELISA and TPPA for detecting antibodies to Treponema pallidum. Methods The 5000 serum specimens were collected from outpatietns during Jan 2006 to Dec 2008. TRUST,TP-ELISA and TPPA were employed to detect syphilis antibodies. The fetures of Treponema pallidum infection were surveyed. Results The positive rate of syphilis was 2.9%,4.3% and 7.7% from 2006 to 2008 respectively. The positive rate of primary stage syphilis was 57.9%,71.9%,62.3%,the positive rate of second stage syphilis was 32.6%,23.4%,30.3% and the positive rate of third syphilis was 1.8%,1.5 % and 2.0% and the positive rate of latent syphilis was 7.7%,3.52% and 5.4% from 2006 to 2008 respectively. The sensitivity of TRUST,ELISA and TPPA were 73.6%,89.5% and 63.5%,and theirs specificity were 89.4%,96.0% and 100%. Significant differences in education background,sex,age distribution and occupation were observed. Conclusion The infection rate o syphilis is increasing and effective measures be taken to control syphilis. The positive samples by ELISA be confirmed by TPPA and TRUST is valuable in assessment of degree of disease and therapeutic effect.