Doctors Sound the Alarm on Rapidly Spreading Potentially Deadly STD

A nurse at Three Rivers Asante Medical Center runs to a room in the Intensive Care Unit to help as medical staff treat a COVID-19 patient in Grants Pass, Ore., on Sept. 9, 2021. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Some health officials have recently sounded the alarm about a rise in syphilis infections in recent years, with Houston authorities warning residents about a 128 percent increase in cases of the sexually transmitted disease (STD).

According to officials, 674 cases were reported in 2022 as compared with 295 cases reported in 2019. The recent rise is being attributed to pregnant women, who can pass the bacterial infection to their unborn babies, the Houston Health Department said in a release Thursday.

Meanwhile, congenital syphilis soared from 16 cases in 2016 to 151 cases in 2021, the health agency said in the release. Congenital syphilis occurs when the bacteria is passed from the pregnant mother to her child, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It is crucial for pregnant women to seek prenatal care and syphilis testing to protect themselves from an infection that could result in the deaths of their babies,” said Marlene McNeese Ward, an assistant director with the Houston health agency, said in the release. “A pregnant woman needs to get tested for syphilis three times during her pregnancy.”

The department and other officials say that syphilis is easily treatable with antibiotics such as penicillin. However, without proper treatment, the infection can progress to its secondary stage, causing symptoms including a rash, fever, swollen lymph nodes and glands, hair loss, weight loss, sore throat, muscle aches, fatigue, and headaches.

As it goes untreated, the Treponema pallidum that causes syphilis can progress and start causing damage to a person’s internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints, officials said.

“In most cases, syphilis goes undetected because the signs and symptoms are misinterpreted or simply unnoticed,” the Houston Health Department said. The CDC says that untreated syphilis can lead to a stillbirth or a baby’s death soon after birth.

Officials also told the Houston Chronicle there is a nationwide shortage of penicillin, which is the only drug known to work in treating an unborn child exposed to the bacteria.

“Pfizer needs to manufacture more penicillin,” said Dr. Irene Stafford, a specialist and associate professor at UTHealth Houston’s McGovern Medical School, according to the paper. “Other pharmaceutical companies should step up and manufacture penicillin. The other thing is, fundamentally, we need to consider non-penicillin alternative regiments.”

One of the most significant “consequences is when the infection itself affects the central nervous system or the brain of the newborn,” Ms. Stafford told PBS earlier this year. “ That can lead to neurosyphilis, which is quite detrimental and hard on a newborn baby and the family, of course.”

There have been reports of people online saying they were able to mitigate the symptoms of long-term syphilis, a type of spirochete bacteria—a pathogen that’s in the same phylum as the tick-borne Borellia bacteria that causes Lyme disease—with a variety of herbal remedies, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine. However, there are few peer-reviewed studies about those herbs’ effectiveness, and a number of herbal treatments are not recommended for use among pregnant women and infants.

“We believe that many women of childbearing age may not attribute any signs or symptoms to syphilis since they mirror many other infections,” Ms. Ward told the Houston Chronicle. “For women and their sexual partners, infections like syphilis go under diagnosed and untreated if not detected in the primary or secondary stages when signs and symptoms are most often present.”

Notably, individuals with syphilis have an increased risk of HIV infection due to a sore that develops at the site of contact during the disease’s first stage, authorities said.

The department recommends testing for syphilis among pregnant women during their initial prenatal visit and among those who are at a higher risk of getting it. In response, the city’s health agency said it is now waiving fees for STD testing due to the surge of cases.

“The department reminds health care providers to immediately report syphilis infections so it can expedite testing and treatment to the sexual contacts of people with the disease,” its news release said. “Physicians seeking medical information about people with a history of syphilis infection can call the department at 855-264-8463.”

Earlier this year, the CDC released new data showing that across the United States, syphilis, congenital syphilis, and other STDs are on the rise. In 2021, there were 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, the data show, with the most significant rises occurring in individuals with syphilis and congenital syphilis,

A number of famous historical figures were either diagnosed with or strongly suspected to have syphilis at some time, according to the National Institutes of Health, including a handful of famous painters, writers, composers, and officials. It noted that Al Capone, the famous mafioso who once led the Chicago Outfit, “supposedly died of neurosyphilis, as a consequence of aggravation of its manifestation after his imprisonment in Alcatraz.”