A study on the transmission dynamics of syphilis considering the impact of latent syphilis infection

Syphilis has become a public health problem in many countries and is a burden to China’s healthcare system. Syphilis is a relatively complex disease with different clinical stages and symptoms and the presence of latent syphilis makes it difficult to stop its spread. We developed a dynamic model to assess the effect of latent infections on syphilis transmission and discussed the stability of the equilibrium point. Our analysis of syphilis case data from 2004 to 2021 yielded the following: the number of syphilis cases in the eastern and southern regions of China is growing faster, and the basic reproduction number is calculated as [Formula: see text] and infections caused by people with latent syphilis account for 71.6% of [Formula: see text]; the number of latent syphilis cases will continue to increase in China; improving the recovery rate of the population of people infected with latent syphilis, increasing the awareness of knowledge about syphilis transmission would have a good effect on syphilis control and China can reach the World Health Organization’s goal of reducing the number of cases by 90% in 2030.