Syphilis Cases On The Rise in Mississippi

Syphilis cases are on the rise in Mississippi and a big effort is being made to try and control the spread of the disease. MPB’s Phoebe Judge has more.

In the mid-90’s there were 2000 cases of syphilis in Mississippi, and then the numbers started to fall bringing the state below the national average. Syphilis is now back, and for the last several years the numbers have continued to rise in the state. There were 185 reported cases last year. Harrison, Forrest and Hinds counties account for more than half of all those cases. One of the problems with syphilis is that it has a latency period which can make diagnosing it difficult says Juanita Davis with the Mississippi Department of Health,

“If they don’t know they have this disease, and often times people may not show signs or symptoms, they may pass it off as something else, but if they are still having sex they may pass it off to another person.”

Untreated, syphilis can have serious long term health effects and can also cause death in infants born to women with syphilis says state epidemiologist Dr. Mary Currier,

“You have a long latent period and then it can come back as something that affects your ability to think or affect's internal organs. It’s a wide and varied number of things that can be caused by syphilis.”

The highest rate of syphilis infections are with the 20-24 year old age group. Currier says the Department of Health has begun cluster investigations to try and target the spread of the disease,

“Most of what we are trying to do is really where the rubber meets the road, finding of the folks with syphilis, doing screening in high risk populations, finding their contacts and preventing the transmission with the use of penicillin.”

The Department of Health is also hoping to curb the spread of the disease by providing grants to community organizations in Hinds, Harrison and Forrest counties to support syphilis testing and education.