Congenital syphilis, or infection of a baby from a mother infected with syphilis, is dramatically increasing in Mississippi, warns former State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs.
Nationally, the rate of syphilis has increased by 147 percent since 2016. In Mississippi, the state with the second-highest rate of syphilis in the country, cases of children being treated for congenital syphilis have increased by over 900 percent since 2016.
“Mississippi is experiencing a frightening increase in pregnant women with syphilis and in turn, babies born with syphilis,” Dobbs, who now serves as a dean at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said. “This is a devastating condition that leads to miscarriage, stillbirth, or death about 40 percent of the time if the mother contracts syphilis during pregnancy, depending on the stage of maternal illness. Mississippi has experienced an increase of greater than 900 percent of babies born with syphilis in the past six years.”
Syphilis can be passed to unborn children through the placenta or during birth. Most babies with congenital syphilis have no symptoms, but some children have a rash that may appear on the soles of their feet and the palms of their hands which can peel later, or present with pneumonia or blood disorders.
Later, the syphilis symptoms of blindness, deafness, seizures and neurodevelopment delays, teeth and skeletal deformities and the collapse of the bridge of the nose are found. Congenital syphilis can also result in premature birth.
“This is so tragic because this is preventable,” Dr. Charlotte Hobbs, professor of pediatric infectious diseases, said. “Penicillin was the first antibiotic synthesized. If mothers receive adequate treatment, the risk of congenital syphilis drops dramatically.”
Statewide health experts say testing pregnant women for syphilis and early prenatal care are the keys to addressing this crisis.
