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<br />March 18, 2016 5:20 PM <br />Wake County health officials say social networking apps are <br />partly to blame for a sharp increase in syphillis cases. <br />By Chris Cioffi <br />ccioffi@newsobserver.com <br /> <br />RALEIGH - The number of reported syphilis cases is on the rise in North Carolina, and Wake County <br />health officials say social networking websites are partly to blame. <br />Across the state, 1,113 early syphilis infections were diagnosed in 2014 – a 62 percent increase from the <br />prior year, when 688 cases were reported, according to the state Department of Health and Human <br />Services. <br />Wake saw 233 reported cases of syphilis last year, marking a 15-year high. In 2014, the county saw 171 <br />cases, according to county data. <br />When patients who contracted syphilis were interviewed in Wake County, many said they met their <br />partner online, said Sue Lynn Ledford, Wake’s public health division director. <br />“People are hooking up with strangers they have most often met through social media, and that is really <br />increasing the rate of transmission,” she said. <br />Other Triangle counties have also seen increases in syphilis cases. In Durham County, there were 121 <br />reported cases in 2015, up from 46 in 2013. Orange County had 13 reported cases in 2015, compared to <br />five in 2013. Johnston County had 19 reported cases in 2015 and one case in 2013. <br />Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that causes skin rashes and sores most commonly in the genital <br />area. The disease can also be passed from mother to child during pregnancy. <br />The most common treatment is penicillin, but if the bacteria goes untreated, patients can eventually go <br />blind, become paralyzed, develop dementia or die. <br />Most of the recent syphilis cases occurred in men who said they had been engaging in sexual activity <br />with other men, said Arlene Sena, medical director for the Durham County Department of Public Health <br />and an associate professor at the UNC School of Medicine. <br />Patients who have an STD, including syphilis, are at a higher risk of testing positive for HIV in the future, <br />health officials say.