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Syphilis outbreak partly caused by significant restrictions on access to testing during Covid
The number of cases are exceeding those seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. By Jane Moore Sunday 18 Jul 2021, 8:30 AM 13 hours ago 34,200 Views 45 Comments
Image: Shutterstock/Jarun Ontakrai
A NATIONAL OUTBREAK of early infectious syphilis (EIS) has been declared in Ireland.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) confirmed this week that there is a “potentially large undiagnosed reservoir of syphilis infection in Ireland due in part to the impact of COVID-19″.
A spokesperson for the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme said that the pandemic led to “significant restrictions” in people’s access to testing in sexual health clinics.
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The device, which can be used at home, lets people know their HIV status within 15 minutes.
The MPOWER programme for gay and bisexual men also provides a support phoneline as well as online to get people to link into services.
MPOWER Programme Manager with HIV Ireland, Adam Shanley, said when they first launched the HIV self-test they received orders for 2,000 kits - which was their supply for the year – in just 10 days.
It has received hundreds of queries since then.
The service relaunched its testing kit last Tuesday after receiving more funding from the HSE.
In the past few days, it received more than 550 requests for HIV self-tests.