Congenital syphilis occurs when a pregnant woman with the sexually-transmitted disease passes the infection to her baby in the womb. Cases are on the rise here in Arizona, and there's a national push for more testing.
David C. Harvey is the executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. He’s in Phoenix for a national conference, and he’s talking about a letter he wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
"Our concern is that in Secretary Kennedy's recent MAHA report on the status of children's health in the United States, what was not covered was a mention of congenital syphilis," Harvey said.
Harvey is urging Kennedy to address the issue and make an investment of $50 million over three years to address the issue.
In 2023, 233 cases of congenital syphilis were identified in Arizona, and 40% of those babies may be stillborn. If they do survive, they may die from the infection as newborns or live with chronic diseases.
"We're missing a lot of cases, and in public health we call this a sentinel public health event. It means the system has broken down somewhere and unfortunately in the United States today we've had an explosive growth in these cases nationally," Harvey said.
Syphilis can be treated with antibiotics. He recommends testing throughout pregnancy.
Congenital syphilis
According to Maricopa County, congenital syphilis can cause serious complications during pregnancy including miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, low birthweight or fetal death. Some babies may not show any signs or symptoms of congenital syphilis at the time of birth but may develop serious health problems after a few weeks or even years later.
Babies with congenital syphilis can have:
- Deformed bones
- Severe anemia (low blood count)
- Enlarged liver and spleen
- Yellowing of skin or eyes
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Meningitis
- Skin rashes
- Low birth weight
- Prematurity
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of David C. Harvey's name.
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