As if we didn’t have enough health problems these days. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, who was the voice of Mississippi’s response to the covid-19 pandemic, is back with a new warning that won’t affect nearly as many people as covid did, but is an equally dispiriting story.
Dobbs is now in charge of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Population Health, and he is among several officials trying to warn people of the state’s growing rate of syphilis infections.
Syphilis is, as we all learned in high school health class, a nasty venereal disease that can cause great damage if left untreated. Not only are more adults contracting syphilis, but more pregnant women are passing along the disease to their unborn child.
The Mississippi Today website reports that our state is tied with Nevada for the highest rate of syphilis cases per 100,000 residents. Dr. Anita Henderson, a Hattiesburg pediatrician, said several Mississippi babies infected with syphilis before birth have died in the past year, and others will suffer long-term medical issues because of the disease.
Here are the grim numbers:
“In 2016, eight babies in Mississippi were born and hospitalized with syphilis. In 2021, that number hit 106, according to data Dobbs shared based on health department and hospital discharge numbers. While syphilis cases in infants have gone up nationwide, Mississippi’s rate of increase is nearly five times the national average.”
In a Twitter post, Dobbs said infant syphilis would be “a simple problem to eradicate — if we so chose,” through early testing, treatment and prenatal care.
Like so much else involving medical care in Mississippi, choosing to reduce the number of babies born with syphilis faces many hurdles.
Chief among them: In 2021, 70% of the babies born with syphilis in Mississippi were Black, meaning they were more likely to be from lower-income families, and thus less likely to begin pre-natal health care early in a pregnancy. Convincing more women of the importance of seeing a doctor as soon as a pregnancy is confirmed would improve Mississippi’s lousy birth statistics, too.
Dobbs said it takes too long for expectant mothers to qualify for Medicaid coverage early in their pregnancy. It usually takes a month to be approved, and doctors are reluctant to treat low-income pregnant women without confirmation that they’ll be paid.
This increases the chances of no penicillin treatment in the first trimester, when it’s easiest to halt syphilis.
Naturally, Medicaid covers 65% of the pregnancies in Mississippi. Which means the program is vital if we are to reduce our state’s growing number of syphilis births.
And finally, most states have laws that require syphilis screenings. With the disease increasing, this is a wise precaution. Of course, Mississippi is one of six states that don’t require such a screening.
The state epidemiologist says the Mississippi Department of Health is considering using its regulatory authority to mandate syphilis tests for pregnant women. What’s the holdup? If this mandate prevents even a few babies from being born with this disease, it will be money well spent.
Even though Mississippi’s rate of syphilis cases is rising, we’re not talking about a lot of babies born with the disease: just 106 two years ago. But what are the extra costs of caring for these children after they are born?
This is one more signal that the state, with its billions of surplus cash, needs to spend more in health care. When syphilis babies are falling through the cracks, something is not working.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
