Syphilis under control in Shenzhen

GUANGZHOU: The rising rate of syphilis infection over the past seven years in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, has led the city to reinforce disease-prevention among pregnant women, to rein in mother-to-child transmission.

According to figures from the Shenzhen center for disease control and prevention (CDC), between 2000 and 2006, the annual average rate of increase in the number of people contracting syphilis was 30-40 percent.

Last year, the figure increased to 46 percent, but this was still lower than both the national average increase rate (108 percent) and the provincial rate for Guangdong (89 percent).