Background and objective: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major public health problem due to their morbidity, complications and sequels, and also by their relationships with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Several countries have been described a resurgence of STIs since the mid-1990's.
Material and method: Descriptive study of the STIs monitored by epidemiological surveillance, using as source of information the Spanish National Network of Epidemiological Surveillance data, from 1995 to 2003.
Results: In 2003, 1069 new cases of gonorrhoea (rate: 2.55 per 100,000 population) and 917 new cases of syphilis (rate: 2.19 per 100,000 population) were notified to the Spanish Compulsory Disease Reporting System. Between 1995 and 2003, gonorrhoea incidence rates decreased in a 78% and syphilis rates diminish in a 15%. Nevertheless, between 2001 and 2003, both gonorrhoea and syphilis incidence rates have increased in a 29% and 27% respectively.
Conclusions: The data analyzed in this period show an evident change in the trend of the incidence of these STIs. This fact has to be confirmed in the future.