The Bangkok Post reported on Jun 29:

Cases of HIV and syphilis among gay men in Bangkok are on the rise, according to data released by US and Thai health authorities on Friday.

Syphilis cases among gay men more than doubled from 5% in 2005 to 12.5% in 2011, said the report in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Meanwhile, the annual prevalence of HIV also rose "significantly," from 24.5% in 2005 to 29.4% in 2011 among men who have sex with men (MSM), it said.

"These data show ongoing and increasing epidemics of HIV and syphilis infection among MSM in Bangkok," said the report.

The data came from the Silom Community Clinic, located in a central Bangkok hospital and near entertainment venues for gay men.

The clinic was founded in 2005 by a joint collaboration between the the Public Health Ministry and the US CDC, offering free and confidential tests in an environment "receptive to the health and concerns of the MSM community."

When the team first began collecting data about HIV infections in gay men in Bangkok in 2003, the HIV prevalence was 17%.

By 2005 the HIV prevalence in that group had risen to 28%, and now it is around 30%, said the report.