The World Health Organization WHO emphasizes the testing and treatment of pregnant women, because syphilis can be transmitted from mother to baby. The medicine intended for their treatment is in high demand.
Syphilis may remind you of 19th-century brothels and mercury treatments. The disease was common and life-threatening for prostitutes, their clients and their wives. It could also be passed from a pregnant woman to the fetus with fatal consequences.
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of penicillin, an effective treatment for syphilis was found, but it still has not been fully explored.
On the contrary, syphilis has become more common in Finland and around the world in recent years.
In the United States, the development is so worrying that testing is being increased. The World Health Organization WHO also emphasizes the importance of testing and access to treatment.
In Finland, 457 syphilis infections were reported to the Institute of Health and Welfare’s infectious disease register in 2023. There were 18 percent more cases than a year earlier. Relative to the population, the number of syphilis cases is not high, but it is more than at any time before since 1995, when register extends.
This year, 128 cases have been reported.
Syphilis is as common in the United States as it was in the 50s
In the United States, too, the number of syphilis infections has increased over the past twenty years.
The latest information on cases is from 2022, when the number of infections reached the level of the 1950s, says in June 2024 Jama medical News article published in the online magazine.
The disease was already on the decline in the early 2000s, after which its testing decreased. HIV and hepatitis B virus received more attention in health care than syphilis. Not all those affected also recognize the symptoms of syphilis, and do not understand how to seek treatment.
The cases have also increased as a result of the corona pandemic, when healthcare has been overloaded and people’s lives have been different from usual in many ways. However, this alone does not explain the spread of syphilis, which started earlier.
In 2022, 207,255 cases of syphilis were reported in the United States, says a health threat data collection agency US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The increase compared to the previous year was more than 17 percent.
The cases included 3,755 congenital syphilis cases and 282 fetal or infant deaths.
Congenital syphilis has increased as the disease has become more common among women aged 15 to 44 in the last ten years.
Lack of timely testing and adequate treatment of pregnant women was associated with the vast majority of congenital syphilis cases. Testing practices vary from state to state.
Testing for intoxicants and first aid stations
Due to the rapidly increasing incidence of congenital syphilis, the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) updated its recommendations for syphilis screening during pregnancy in April.
In the past, ACOG recommended universal screening during the first trimester of pregnancy and additional screening for those who are at risk for syphilis, for example, because of the high prevalence of syphilis in their area. However, the problem was that healthcare did not always have information on who are risk cases.
In the updated guidelines, it is recommended that all pregnant women be tested in the early stages of pregnancy, during the last trimester and at the time of delivery.
Due to socioeconomic differences, some pregnant women have limited access to prenatal care, so there has been an effort to increase testing, for example, in substance abuse centers and first aid stations, where people also seek treatment for other reasons. There, pregnant women are reached and they can be referred for a syphilis test.
Medicines are in high demand
The demand for the drug Penicillin G benzathine, intended for pregnant women and newborns, has grown so strongly in the United States that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer has had supply difficulties.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has temporarily allowed the importation of a similar product from another pharmaceutical company, Delbert Pharma, i.e. Extencilline. The drug is not approved by the FDA, but it is officially on the market in other countries.
Health library In Duodecim According to an article published in June 2023, early fetal infection leads to intrauterine death in four out of ten cases.
In Finland, syphilis is one of the infectious diseases screened for during pregnancy. There are currently 8–10 new cases of syphilis per year in consultation reports. Infection of the fetus can be prevented by treating the mother as early as possible.
Eight million new syphilis infections
Published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May the report According to
There was an increase of about one million compared to the previous year. Syphilis increased the most on the American and African continents.
Congenital syphilis infections also increased worldwide. There were 523 cases per hundred thousand babies born alive.
WHO strives to prevent the spread of syphilis, HIV and the hepatitis B virus from mothers to babies. Almost 75 percent of countries have national plans for this.
WHO’s goal is that by 2030, more than 95 percent of pregnant women will be tested for syphilis, and if necessary, they will also receive treatment.