The STD syphilis may seem like a condition that no longer affects people; however, there is a marked rise in syphilis cases around the world. This is critical to organizations working with the blind, because people who are exposed are at risk of blindness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that occurrences in the United States have more than doubled from 2.1 cases per 100,000 people in 2000 to 5.3 cases per 100,000 in 2013. A study on the heightened risk of ocular syphilis appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

“The 1990s and 2000s indicated that ocular syphilis was a rare diagnosis, accounting for less than 2 percent of all cases of uveitis [inflammation inside the eye],” co-author of the study, Joao Marcello Furtado from USP, said in a statement. “More recent reports describe cohorts of up to 85 patients with ocular syphilis in the Americas, countries in Europe, and parts of Australasia which shows it’s not only a problem in Brazil.”

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“OCULAR SYPHILIS: STD THAT CAN CAUSE BLINDNESS IS ON THE RISE”