The Region - News from Aug. 28, 1986

The number of syphilis cases reported in Orange County during the first six months of 1986 is up 45% over the same period last year, and county and state health officials are blaming prostitution for the increase. The state Department of Health Services said Orange County reported 379 cases of syphilis for the first six months of 1986--a 45.2% increase over the 261 cases reported for the first six months of 1985--but Jim Dobbins of the department’s sexually transmitted diseases unit said the increase might merely be “the unfortunate infection of a prostitute or two” who passed the disease on to clients. “They have a number of contacts per day, so they have the potential of infecting a great number of people,” he said.