Syphilis, a slow but devastating sexually transmitted disease, is on the 'rampage' in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District of the Central Region. The disease is now moving like an injured snake ready to sting any prey in its way, both old and young. A total of 333 cases were recorded in the district during a special survey funded by the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) on the disease in the district from January 2008 to April 2009. The district tops the league of districts with high rates of syphilis in the country. The Cape Coast municipality, also in the region, ranks third. Addressing a workshop for the media on the status of HIV and other STIs in the region, Mr Ebenezer Koomson, the HIV Co-ordinator in the Central Region, attributed the situation to indiscriminate sexual behaviours, particularly among the youth. "The young in the area do not sleep, especially during festival periods and other occasions," he noted. Mr Koomson explained that people with syphilis were eight times more likely to be infected with the dreaded HIV/AIDS disease, adding that syphilis also caused stillbirth, miscarriage and infant mortality, spinal cord problems and madness. On the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the region, he said 2,634 people tested positive in 2009, while 79 people died from the disease over the same period. He said 512 pregnant women tested positive during antenatal care visits during the period, while 896 cases were detected during voluntary counselling and testing. He called on all, including chiefs and the district assemblies, to support the health service to educate communities on STIs and their effects on the socio-economic well-being of the individual, families and society. Me Samuel Tettey Danquah, on behalf of the Central Regional Director of Health Services, said the media were key stakeholders in achieving set targets for the GHS, as well as ensuring positive changes in sexual behaviour, to reduce the prevalence of all STIs. Source: The Mirror