Babytalk | An increasing health issue in the country: Syphilis during pregnancy
We have a devastating health issue in the United States. This column is not about COVID-19. This column is about the serious and dismaying increase in cases of syphilis.
The number of cases has increased dramatically. Between 2012 and 2016, syphilis increased among women of childbearing age by 111%. These individuals can be treated and cured. That is the good news.
The bad news is that congenital syphilis — a condition in which the baby contracts syphilis while growing inside the uterus — has increased during the same time period by 87%.
As many as 40% of the babies exposed to syphilis during pregnancy die before they are born. The ones who survive face a lifetime of bone pain, deafness and possible blindness if they are not treated after they are born.
The good news is penicillin still works for them. The other good news is if the baby is only exposed while traveling through the birth canal, they have a better chance of surviving than those babies exposed during pregnancy.
The organism responsible for syphilis is a spirochete, Treponema pallidum. Some people do not even know they are infected until it is too late. Early treatment is key to being cured.
The incubation of the spirochete is between 3 and 90 days. It may take that long for symptoms to be felt. The symptom is usually a single painless chancre or ulcer. This develops at the site of the infection. In some people it is so small they don’t even notice it. It can heal on its own within two to eight weeks.
The sore heals but the disease does not go away. The spirochete invades the body. Between 2 to 16 weeks later, other symptoms appear. The majority of cases present with a rash on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Infected people may also experience fever, weight loss, extreme fatigue, mouth sores and other nasty things. This usually makes people seek treatment. This is the secondary stage of syphilis.
In October 2019, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a press release warning of the “Growing threat of newborn deaths from syphilis.”
The report shows there was an increase in the three most commonly reported sexually transmitted diseases. Reports from the CDC take a few years to compile because they have to study the numbers. It is super scary to think what those numbers are now, two years later.
The numbers were alarming and scary. There were more than 115,000 syphilis cases. Among newborns, there were 1,300 cases. Gonorrhea cases were reported to be over 580,000. Chlamydia cases were more than 1.7 million cases. The most ever reported by the CDC. Five states reported the highest number of congenital syphilis: Texas, California, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana. Those states accounted for 70% of cases in the United States.
It is recommended that all women are tested for STDs when pregnant. The sad fact is some women do not even know they are infected. This gives the woman the opportunity to be treated and possibly save the life of her child.
None of these diseases are contracted by hugging or sitting on a toilet seat.
There is a famous line from the movie Apollo 13: Houston we have a problem. We have a problem and the problem is the raging spread of STDs. If you know someone who thinks they may have contracted an STD, drive them to the Public Health Department, reassure them that they need treatment to not only save their own lives, but the possible life of an unborn child.
Katie Powers, R.N., is a board-certified lactation consultant and perinatal educator at Manatee Memorial Hospital’s Family BirthPlace. Her column appears every other week in Healthy Living in the Bradenton Herald. Contact her at katie.powers@mmhhs.com.