Prevalence Estimates of Complicated Syphilis

In Brief We reviewed 68 cases of possible neurosyphilis among 573 syphilis cases in King County, WA, from 3rd January 2012 to 30th September 2013; 7.9% (95% confidence interval, 5.8%–10.5%) had vision or hearing changes, and 3.5% (95% confidence interval, 2.2%–5.4%) had both symptoms and objective confirmation of complicated syphilis with either abnormal cerebrospinal fluid or an abnormal ophthalmologic examination. When patients with syphilis are systematically queried, symptoms of complicated syphilis (neurosyphilis, ocular syphilis, or otosyphilis) and confirmed symptomatic complicated syphilis are more common than published estimates suggest.