Syphilis on the Rise
Since 1999 the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of new syphilis cases. Syphilis outbreaks are “sentinel events in community health” and “represent a failure in disease control” [1] San Francisco Department of Public Health. Historical Progression of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco, 1981-2000.. One of the many tragedies of this resurgence is that syphilis is actually a very good candidate for eradication. During the mid-1990′s, eradication seemed within reach as the number of new syphilis infections plummeted, yet in 1999 the situation began changing dramatically.
About the Data:
This time series animation uses 17 years of state-level syphilis data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Each week, state agencies report a number of notifiable infectious diseases to the CDC, which then issues a weekly report containing summary statistics and case count numbers for all states. Errors may exist in reported data, which may then be corrected in any subsequent MMWR report referencing the same time period. This animation makes use of the last reported value for each time period — presumably the most accurate data available to the CDC.
The locations on the map are only approximations, correspond to the centroids — the approximate center — of each state in the United States. New syphilis cases actually occur in many cities within any given state, but this information is not reflected in the MMWR.
This Demo Was Built Using:
[1] San Francisco Department of Public Health. Historical Progression of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco, 1981-2000.