After five confirmed cases of local babies born with syphilis, and a syphilis-related fetal death in 2008, Pima County health officials are urging doctors to step up screening for the sexually transmitted disease.
In a letter this month to local physicians, Pima County’s chief medical officer is recommending that doctors and health care providers do more syphilis screening among pregnant women and patients in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics.
Cases of syphilis have been increasing in Pima County for the last eight years, said Dr. Michelle McDonald, who is Pima County’s chief medical officer. Prior to 2001, the number of infectious cases was typically fewer than 10 per year, and congenital syphilis (babies born with the disease) was rare — one case a year at most. For many years there were no congenital cases at all.
Medical experts pin the outbreak on the “deprioritization” of sexually transmitted diseases by several different entities, including health care providers, government officials and the media.
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