Twenty-nine cases of syphilis were discovered when men were tested in gay clubs and saunas in Dublin over nine weekend nights last year, according to the National Disease Surveillance Centre.
The move was among measures to cope with an outbreak of syphilis which began in early 2000. Since January 2000, 189 cases have been diagnosed in the State.
Sexual contact with infected Dubliners may partly account for a rise in syphilis cases in Belfast, according to the NDSC's newsletter, EPI-INSIGHT.
A team co-ordinated by the Eastern Regional Health Authority is dealing with the outbreak in Dublin. It includes representatives of the Gay Men's Health Project.
On-site testing for syphilis in gay bars and saunas in Dublin was conducted by doctors and nurses from St James's Hospital.
"A total of 528 men were tested, of whom 29 were newly identified as early syphilis cases," says the newsletter. The on-site testing raised awareness of the problem among the gay community, it says.
Of the 189 cases identified since January 2000, almost all (160) were in gay or bisexual men. Twenty-seven were in heterosexual people. The latter include two women infected by bisexual men.
Almost two-thirds (31 per cent) of a large sample of those affected reported having had sex with two to five people in the previous year, 47 per cent with between six and 40 people and 9 per cent with more than 40 people.
Experts say syphilis can be transmitted by contact with infectious skin or ulcerated lesions and does not require penetrative sex.
Of reports of an increase in syphilis cases in Belfast, the newsletter remarks that "some of the cases appear to be linked to the outbreak in Dublin".
Further information and advice is available from the GUIDE (Genito-urinary Medicine and Infectious Disease Services) clinic at St James's Hospital, tel: (01) 4162315/4162316.
EPI-INSIGHT can be downloaded from the website http://www.ndsc.ie of the National Disease Surveillance Centre.