Syphilis cases in Virginia have been increasing in recent years, and state health officials are describing why it has them concerned.
“We are seeing a significant rise,” said Bryan Collins, assistant director of the STD prevention team at the Virginia Department of Health.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that, if left untreated, can cause serious health problems. The increase has been ongoing since about 2010, but it accelerated from 2018 through 2022.
During that period of time, cases among men increased by 14% while cases among women jumped 70%.
“The additional concern is that, historically, the rate of syphilis among men is much higher than the rate among women,” Collins said. “While it is still true that the majority of cases that we see are among men, the rate of cases among women is increasing much faster.”
That carries with it the risk that a woman who is infected with syphilis will be pregnant and will transmit syphilis to her unborn child.
Syphilis can be a catastrophic infection for an infant, causing stillbirth, miscarriage or death shortly after birth.
“We’ve seen an increase in the incidence of congenital syphilis such that we had 20 cases of congenital syphilis last year,” Collins explained. “In 2010 and 2012, we would typically see zero to one case of congenital syphilis per year.”
According to Collins: “Most sexually active people should receive regular STI testing.”
There are a number of possible reasons for the increase.
“One thing that we have observed is that we’ve seen increases in the percentage of syphilis cases where the person who was infected was using stimulants or opioids, in particular cocaine, opioids or methamphetamine,” Collins said.
There have also been many instances where the birth parent had housing instability within the 12 months prior to when their child was born.
“Those are the those sort of social factors that I think we speculate are contributing to the problem,” said Collins.
Reported cases of syphilis have been increasing nationally as well.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a significant increase in cases from 2020 to 2021.
“The rate of syphilis has increased almost every year, increasing 28.6% during 2020 to 2021,” according to the CDC. “Rates increased among both males and females, in all regions of the United States.”
