Molecular epidemiology of syphilis in Scotland.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the molecular epidemiology of syphilis in Scotland.

METHODS

Ulcer specimens were collected from 85 patients with infectious syphilis. Typing of Treponema pallidum was performed using a method that examines variation in two loci; the number of 60-basepair repeats within the arp gene and sequence variation in the tpr genes.

RESULTS

Patients were predominately white men who have sex with men (MSM). Treponemal DNA was detected in 75 specimens and a total of six subtypes were identified from 58 typeable specimens (77%). The most common subtypes were 14d (44/58, 76%), followed by 14e (7/58, 12%), 14j (3/58, 5%), 14b (2/58, 3%), 14p and 14k (1/58, 2%).

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that subtype 14d is the predominant subtype circulating in Scotland and there is a surprising level of genetic diversity within the Scottish MSM community.