Nearly eight years after an outbreak of infectious syphilis was first reported in Bristol, England, successive outbreaks have occurred in most western European countries. In this issue of Eurosurveillance we take a look at the recent resurgence and evolution of infectious syphilis in seven European countries in order to critically review our understanding of its epidemiology, and to examine opportunities for directing interventions in the near future. The papers also provide some insight into the multilevel, multifactorial causation of syphilis epidemics, and how this may be changing over time in the presence of preventive interventions.