<div dir="ltr"><header class="entry__header gmail-bn-entry-header" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="georgia, serif" style=""><span class="entry-eyebrow" style="box-sizing:inherit;line-height:1.1875rem;letter-spacing:0.11875em;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:3px"><span class="gmail-bn-department-tag" style="box-sizing:inherit">Huffington Post<a class="entry-eyebrow__link gmail-bn-department-link gmail-bn-clickable" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none"> </a></span></span><div class="gmail-timestamp" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:5px 0px 0px 6px;padding:0px;color:rgb(117,117,117);line-height:1.375rem;display:inline-block;height:20px"><span class="gmail-timestamp__date--published" style="box-sizing:inherit">09/28/2017 05:01 pm ET</span></div></font><div class="gmail-headline gmail-js-headline" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:8px 0px 0px;padding:0px"><h1 class="gmail-headline__title" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:3.25rem;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:0.5px;max-width:1024px;word-wrap:break-word"><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Doctors See A Surge In Babies With Syphilis-Associated Birth Defects</font></h1><h2 class="gmail-headline__subtitle" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5rem;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(49,49,49);max-width:720px;width:720px"><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Public health experts say something has gone terribly wrong with prenatal care in the U.S. and that babies are paying the price.</font></h2></div><div class="gmail-bn-byline gmail-byline" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:12px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;display:flex"><div class="gmail-byline__authors" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;max-width:630px;width:630px"><div class="gmail-author-card gmail-author-card--byline" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex;line-height:1.125rem"><div class="gmail-author-card__details" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex"><div class="gmail-author-card__name" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-weight:bold;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="georgia, serif">By <a class="gmail-author-card__link gmail-bn-author-name gmail-bn-clickable" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/anna-almendrala" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:inherit;text-decoration-line:none">Anna Almendrala</a></font></div></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry__content gmail-js-entry-content" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div class="entry__body gmail-js-entry-body" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:3px 0px 0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;width:834px;line-height:1.75rem"><div class="entry__text gmail-js-entry-text gmail-bn-entry-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px"><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">Last year, over 600 pregnancies in the United States were affected by syphilis. Of those, 45 babies were either stillborn or dead within the first month of life, while many others may have been born with serious defects, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-congenital-syphilis.htm" target="_blank" class="gmail-bn-clickable" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">some of them irreversible</a>.</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">While these cases represent a tiny fraction of the approximately 3.9 million births that occurred in the U.S. in 2016, public health experts say that they’re a sign that something is deeply flawed about prenatal health care in the country, and that not a single one of these pregnancies needed to be marred by syphilis, a treatable and preventable sexually transmitted disease.</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">“When you have congenital syphilis occurring, it means there has been a breakdown in the whole medical system ― that these cases are not being diagnosed until a baby is born, when they should be diagnosed antenatally or even before then,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It’s unfortunate that we’re seeing a resurgence of a disease that should basically be gone.”</font></p></div><blockquote class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-pull-quote" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:5px 0px 25px;padding:15px 40px;border:none;line-height:1.5em;background:transparent;word-wrap:break-word"><span class="gmail-quote" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:10px;display:block;font-weight:bold;line-height:1em"><font face="georgia, serif">When you have congenital syphilis occurring, it means there has been a breakdown in the whole medical system.</font></span></blockquote><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">Syphilis is a bacterial infection that can be treated easily with antibiotics, but can cause sores, rashes, dementia and blindness if left untreated. In addition to causing miscarriages and stillbirths, babies who contract it in the womb can be born blind, deaf, or have deformed bones, skin rashes and enlarged livers and spleens.</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif" style="">It was on the brink of extinction in the U.S. just 10 years ago, but today is surging. Cases of congenital syphilis, which is when a fetus contracts an infection from the mother in the womb, rose 28 percent last year ― from 492 in 2015 to 628 in 2016.</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">The spike mirrors a record high number of STDs in the U.S. in general. Officials recorded more than two million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis last year (although officials estimate the true number is around ten times as much) and young people made up the bulk of the infections. For syphilis specifically, of which there were 28,000 reported cases, rates among women increased by 36 percent. </font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">“Each case of congenital syphilis is a sentinel event reflecting numerous missed opportunities for prevention within the public health and health care system,” said Dr. Sarah Kidd, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division of STD prevention. “These missed opportunities can include women who fell out of the system, either due to poverty, a lack of health insurance or other contributing factors.”</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">According to the CDC, about half of moms who give birth to babies with congenital syphilis either had prenatal care late in their pregnancy, or no prenatal care at all. Fifteen percent of them were initially tested for syphilis early in pregnancy but then contracted it afterward. Still others may have tested positive for syphilis but dropped out of prenatal care before receiving positive results or starting antibiotic treatment.  </font></p></div><figure class="gmail-bn-content-list-image gmail-content-list-component gmail-image" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:40px auto;max-width:630px;min-width:initial;width:630px;line-height:0;text-align:center;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px"><span class="gmail-share-bar-image-wrapper" style="box-sizing:inherit;display:block"><font face="georgia, serif"><img class="gmail-image__src" src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/59cd31bd200000c407084181.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: none; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"></font></span><div class="gmail-image__meta-wrapper gmail-js-image-meta-wrapper" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px auto;padding:0px;line-height:1.4em;text-align:left;border-bottom:1px dotted rgb(204,204,204);max-width:100%;width:630px"><div class="gmail-image__credit" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:5px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-size:0.5625rem;color:rgb(153,153,153);text-transform:uppercase"><font face="georgia, serif">CDC</font></div><figcaption class="gmail-image__caption" style="box-sizing:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;margin-top:7px;padding-bottom:8px;line-height:16px;color:rgb(102,102,102)"><font face="georgia, serif">Congenital syphilis cases spiked by 28 percent from 2015 to 2016.</font></figcaption></div></figure><div id="gmail-inline-newsletter_placeholder" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px"><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter gmail-inline-newsletter--lifestyle gmail-inline-newsletter--inline gmail-inline-newsletter--wide gmail-inline-newsletter--one-line" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:20px auto;padding:0px;display:flex;height:250px;max-width:630px;min-width:initial;width:630px"><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__image" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:630px;height:250px;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-image:url("https://s.m.huffpost.com/assets/newsletters/wide/lifestyle-993f79113d5196ee1a6cad9a33f3216a2a790ffdbfa9c88b4ebf1e568715b691.jpg")"></div><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__inner" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:25px 15px 30px;display:flex;text-align:center"><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__logo" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;background-image:url("https://s.m.huffpost.com/assets/HuffPostHero-d783f680fb974e80346bdfa145131d058e596e1d32f791981875aa481702c770.svg");height:20px;min-height:20px;width:141px;background-size:contain;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat"></div><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__content" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex;width:600px"><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__content__inner" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex"><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__title" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:2.25rem;line-height:1.1;letter-spacing:0.5px"><font face="georgia, serif">Subscribe to the Lifestyle email</font></div><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__description" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.1;letter-spacing:0.3px"><font face="georgia, serif">Life hacks and juicy stories to get you through the week.</font></div></div><div class="gmail-inline-newsletter__signup" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px"><form class="gmail-newsletter-signup__form" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:600px"><div class="gmail-newsletter-signup__email" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;display:flex"><div class="gmail-newsletter-signup__email-input-container" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;height:40px;width:270px"><font face="georgia, serif"><input class="gmail-newsletter-signup__email-input" name="email_address" title="Enter your email" type="email" style="box-sizing:inherit;font-size:1rem;height:40px;width:270px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;padding-left:5px"></font></div><div class="gmail-newsletter-signup__submit-container" style="box-sizing:inherit;padding:0px;height:40px;width:180px;background-color:rgb(13,190,152);border-radius:20px;display:flex"><input class="gmail-bn-signup-submit gmail-newsletter-signup__submit" type="submit" value="SUBSCRIBE" style="box-sizing:inherit;font-size:1rem;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;background-image:none;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(255,255,255);height:40px;width:180px;display:flex;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:0.8px"></div></div></form></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">But more broadly, the U.S. is seeing more congenital syphilis cases because there are more syphilis cases in general ― especially among women of reproductive age, Adalja points out. Some people may have the bacterial infection but not have any symptoms, so it’s up to doctors to make STD testing a routine part of prenatal care.  </font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">“<span style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(34,34,34)">We know how to treat these sexually transmitted infections, from chlamydia to gonorrhea to syphilis,” he said. “But you have to diagnose them in order to do that, and it has to be done very routinely, the way that some people get tested for blood pressure.”</span></font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">Indeed, both the CDC and the <a href="https://www.acog.org/About-ACOG/ACOG-Departments/ACOG-Rounds/May-2017/Syphilis-Resurgence" target="_blank" class="gmail-bn-clickable" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a> recommend that STD testing be a routine part of prenatal care in the first trimester, and that women who have multiple sexual partners, a partner with STDs or who live in an area with high rates of syphilis be tested again <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28703731" target="_blank" class="gmail-bn-clickable" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">later on in the pregnancy</a>. </font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">Despite these recommendations, a recent CDC analysis of 2013 data found that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28282647" target="_blank" class="gmail-bn-clickable" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">only 85 percent of privately insured women</a> had a syphilis test while pregnant. Another CDC analysis found that among women who had stillbirths in 2013, about 35 percent of women on Medicaid and 30 percent of women with private insurance had no syphilis testing, either during the pregnancy or at the stillbirth, and that syphilis testing among all women after stillbirth was less than 10 percent, suggesting that stillbirths caused by congenital syphilis <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28876321" target="_blank" class="gmail-bn-clickable" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration-line:none">could be underreported</a>. </font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><font face="georgia, serif">Improving access to maternal care for the poorest and most vulnerable women in the U.S. would help close some of these gaps in care, but Adalja points out that shame, fear and misunderstanding about STDs are still major medical barriers, even for doctors who may decide not to test a prenatal patient for STDs because she doesn’t “seem” at risk.</font></p></div><div class="gmail-content-list-component gmail-bn-content-list-text gmail-text" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1.5em;width:834px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.75rem"><span style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="georgia, serif">“Physicians have to be more in tune to the risks of syphilis and realize this hasn’t gone away,” he said.</font></span></p></div></div><section class="extra-content gmail-bn-extra-content" style="font-size:1.125rem;box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:30px"><h4 class="extra-content__title" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:1rem;font-size:1rem;letter-spacing:0.0625em;color:rgb(131,131,131)">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. <br></h4></section></div></div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><div><br style="font-size:13.3333px"><span style="font-size:13.3333px">-Greek proverb</span></div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. 
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance 
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not 
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it 
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your 
own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br><br></div></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>