Syphilis cases are on the rise within the U.S., with Mississippi reporting a staggering 1000% increase in infant hospitalizations as a result of congenital transmission of the disease since 2016, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed.

The speed of syphilis has increased almost every 12 months in all regions of the U.S. and inside all age groups after a historic low in 2000 and 2001. There have been 176,713 recent cases of syphilis in 2021.

The CDC reported that out of the 367 infants hospitalized with congenital syphilis in Mississippi, 97.6% were newborns. Greater than 70% of them were African Americans, and 58.0% were residents of nonurban counties.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection that typically starts as sores on the genitals, rectum or mouth. The infection spreads when an individual is available in direct contact with the sores, often known as chancre, during vaginal, anal or oral sex. The common incubation period or the time between contracting the bacteria and the primary symptoms is 21 days.

Pregnant women with syphilis can transmit the infection to the unborn child through the placenta or during birth. The condition known as congenital syphilis.

Signs of syphilis

The signs of syphilis rely upon the stage of infection. The disease progression takes weeks, months and even years.

• Preliminary syphilis is the primary stage of infection, during which multiple painless, firm and round chancres appear on the sites at which bacteria enter the body. The sores may last for 3 to 6 weeks and progress to the subsequent stage if the patient doesn’t take treatment.
• Secondary syphilis – On this stage, rashes appear on a number of areas of the body. They might not be itchy and will appear like rough, reddish-brown spots when it appears on the palm of the hands and bottoms of the feet. Patients may additionally exhibit symptoms akin to fever, headaches, weight reduction, muscle aches, patchy hair loss, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes and tiredness. The symptoms might go away even without treatment nevertheless it leads to progression of the disease to the subsequent stage.
• Latent Stage – It’s the period of no signs that will last for a few years. Sometimes, the symptoms never return after the latent stage, however the disease can even progress to the tertiary stage.
• Tertiary stage – The infection will not be contagious at this stage but begins to affect organs and might turn fatal. Around 15% to 30% of individuals with syphilis go into complications, when the infection is left untreated. Changes in vision, numbness, dementia and issues with muscle control are a few of the common complications of the disease.

Complications in pregnancy

Untreated syphilis could cause complications in pregnancy, including miscarriage, stillbirth, development delays, nerve issues causing blindness or deafness, meningitis and seizures in newborns. The chance of stillbirth is 40% in cases of untreated syphilis. Infants with congenital syphilis are also at high risk of developing rashes, damage to bones, severe anemia, enlarged liver and spleen, and jaundice.