Outbreak of syphilis in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

In the second half of 2001, the outpatients’ clinic for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) of the Erasmus Medisch Centrum Rotterdam (Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam) in the Netherlands reported 16 cases of infectious syphilis (six primary and 10 secondary cases), compared with four cases in the first half of 2001 and six cases in the whole of 2000 (figure 1).