Mississippi sees nearly 1000% increase in congenital syphilis in the past six years

Mississippi has seen a nearly 1000% increase in congenital syphilis in newborns in the past six years. This condition can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or death after birth roughly 40% of the time.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs is the dean of the School of Population Health at University of Mississippi Medical Center. He says there are multiple factors contributing to the spike, including an overall rise in syphilis.

"Part of it's because our county public health system has really been decimated over the past decade," he said. "we don't do a great job of getting women into prenetal care in the state of Mississippi... [and] part of it's gonna be women who are uninsured. 24% of working age Mississippians don't have insurance."

Professionals say that while concerning, the problem is easily manageable if those who are pregnant get tested and receive care soon enough. Dobbs says administering penicillin drops the risks dramatically. He also says that a lot of the women impacted are on state-funded benefits, and that Mississippi will need to take part in the effort to handle the rise in cases.

"A large proportion of them are gonna be African-American women, and the vast majority of them, like 80%, are women who are on Medicaid." he said. "So clearly, there's a strong role for the state, you know, through the Medicaid Insurance plan to have a role in decreasing the syphilis."

The CDC reports that 53 percent of congenital syphilis is reported in southern states.