Health expert: Syphilis scourge on the increase

A public health expert is calling for free screenings and treatment for people at high risk of syphilis to curb a rising epidemic of the most common sexually transmitted disease in the country.

Official estimates put the number of syphilis cases at 2.97 million, said Chen Xiangsheng, deputy director of China's National Center for Sexually Transmitted Disease Control, headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

The incidence rate, which was 33 per 100,000 people in 2013, has more than doubled over the past decade, he said.