A disturbing report on the state of public health has been issued for Mississippi, as the cases of babies born with syphilis infections have skyrocketed in that state.
The number of babies in Mississippi being treated for congenital syphilis has jumped by more than 900% over five years, uprooting the progress the nation’s poorest state had made in nearly quashing what experts say is an avoidable public health crisis. The rise in cases has placed newborns at further risk of life-threatening harm in a state that’s already home to the nation’s worst infant mortality rate.In 2021, 102 newborns in Mississippi were treated for the sexually transmitted disease, up from 10 in 2016, according to an analysis of hospital billing data shared by Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the medical director for the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Crossroads Clinic in Jackson, which focuses on sexually transmitted infections.Dobbs, the state’s former health officer, said he’s spoken with health care providers who “are absolutely horrified” that babies are being born with the disease, and in rare instances dying from it.
The rise in cases has been particularly steep in the covid era.
…[T] the numbers started ticking up again in 2019, and seemed to get worse during the global pandemic, breaking a record in 2021 with over 100 reported cases, according to data Dobbs shared with NBC News, based on hospital billing information.At the same time, preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that syphilis cases across the United States more than doubled from 941 in 2017 to at least 2,677 in 2021.The Mississippi Department of Health has not yet released its final 2021 numbers, which are based on clinicians reporting cases directly to the state.But in 2020, the department found that black newborns accounted for 70 percent of the state’s congenital syphilis cases, despite making up only about 42 percent of the state’s live births that year.
Mississippi isn’t the only state observing this crisis. California statistics show the same trend, as noted in an analysis last fall. This reversed a decades-long decrease that once had public health officials convinced they could eradicate syphilis.
Today, California has the sixth-highest rate of congenital syphilis in the country, with rates increasing every year. In 2020, 107 cases per 100,000 live births were reported, a staggering 11-fold increase from a decade prior. That rate far exceeds the California Department of Public Health’s 2020 target to keep congenital syphilis numbers below 9.6 cases per 100,000 live births — a goal it outstripped almost as soon as it was set.Even more shockingly, the syphilis rate among women of childbearing age was 53 times higher than the 2020 goal.At one point in the late 1990s, rates were so low across the U.S. that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought syphilis among men and women could be effectively eradicated from the population. After all, in many cases a single shot of penicillin is all that’s needed to curb the infection. But at both the national and state level, public health departments were overstretched and woefully underfunded. People slipped through the cracks, and sexually transmitted infections of all types began to skyrocket once more.
Diverting all the funds and resources to fight the losing battle against covid was not helpful and likely exacerbated the problem. Additionally, covid mandates and pandemic policy led health professionals to seek other employment options.
Dr. Threlkeld points to a large number of healthcare workers leaving their jobs following the COVID outbreak. He says there are not enough professionals to follow up with pregnant women who test positive for syphilis.“This is just one of those examples where we have the data, we know about the cases but you have to have the manpower to diagnose the patients, then do contact tracing and follow up to make sure they’re continuing to come back for treatment,” Threlkeld said.Dr. Threlkeld says most states suggest or require syphilis testing at least twice during pre-natal care. Some states suggest another test when the baby is delivered, particularly for women engaging in high-risk behavior.
This development is terribly concerning. Congenital syphilis can cause miscarriage, the death of a newborn, deformed bones, blindness, severe anemia, and a wide array of other adverse health effects. The congenital infections may not even be detectable when the baby is born.
In conclusion, there is good reason to add these babies to the toll of children for whom the pandemic over covid will have long-term adverse consequences.
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