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* Pew Trusts…
Some of the communities hit hardest by the opioid epidemic and a related methamphetamine spike also are facing another health crisis: a steep rise in syphilis.
It isn’t a coincidence.
Many opioid users have started to use meth, either in combination with opioids or as a cheaper, more accessible alternative. Stimulants such as meth are even more likely than opioids to promote risky sexual behavior that increases the likelihood of contracting syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Women are increasingly susceptible as their drug use continues to rise, and more of them are passing on the disease to their infants — with deadly results.
Many addicted pregnant women forgo prenatal visits for fear of being drug tested and losing custody of their babies, doctors say. And mothers with untreated syphilis have an 80 percent chance of infecting their unborn babies, contributing to a growing crisis that many states have tried to combat in recent years.
In adults, syphilis can be cured with a course of antibiotics. But syphilis among newborns, called congenital syphilis, can cause deformities, severe anemia, an enlarged liver and spleen, jaundice or brain and nerve problems such as blindness or deafness.
Up to 40 percent of babies born to women with untreated syphilis may be stillborn or die as a newborn, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of congenital syphilis cases climbed by 154 percent between 2013 and 2017. More than 900 cases were reported in 37 states in 2017 — the highest number of cases in the past two decades.
* Congenital Syphilis rates per 100,000 live births in 2017…
California 58
Illinois 14
Indiana 10
Michigan 9
Minnesota 3
Missouri 13
New York 7
Ohio 13
Pennsylvania 4
Texas 44
Wisconsin 5
The national average is 23.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:11 am
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Clarification: The rate is per 100,000 live births.
Comment by KSDinCU Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:18 am
That’s rate per 100,000 live births.
Comment by NoGifts Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:24 am
Well this is awesome ugh
Comment by DuPage Bard Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:31 am
To be blunt, a rise of 154% to 900 cases doesn’t seem to constitute an emergency. It’s definitely a problem, but things that happen less than 1000 times a year in a country of 350 million people are relatively small scale. This is a case of percent change being a poor statistical indicator.
Comment by PJ Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:45 am
Hard to discern a regional or state-by-state pattern here. Some states are really skewing regional results.
For example, both Texas and AZ are among the highest rates, but right between them is NM, one of the lowest rates.
Louisiana is the highest rate, but right next door, Mississippi is one of the lowest rates.
Strange that Lousiana and Mississippi would have such a vastly different experience. I wonder if all cases are being uniformly reported and documented.
In other words, I wonder if the problem is much worse.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:47 am
350 million people can’t all get pregnant.
As a rate per live birth, for something preventable, it’s atrocious.
Comment by Fav human Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:58 am
I was doing the math for population and it got posted by mistake after I realized these rates were per 100,000 births. Sorry.
Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:02 pm
Throwing pregnant women in jail for child abuse because they are using drugs has its downside apparently.
Comment by 17% Solution Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:09 pm
When I work through the math, there are about 45 women in Illinois each year that are pregnant and have untreated syphilis. Good luck finding them among the roughly 150,000 Illinois women pregnant each year.
On the other hand, each congenitally infected child could easily cost the state more than $1 million over their first 20 years.
A related fear is that syphilis may become more drug resistant. We could be moving back to the 1930’s before penicillin.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:20 pm