Syphilis cases in Greene County increased 12-fold since 2015, health department says

When most people think of syphilis, they may be reminded of World War II posters or Al Capone, whose brain was damaged by a late stage of the disease. The United States nearly eradicated the disease with a national effort in 1957.

However, as Greene County health workers will tell you, the disease is not simply a relic of the past. A recent blog post from Springfield-Greene County Health Department highlighted a 12-fold increase in local syphilis cases since 2015, according to provisional data released by the Department of Health and Senior Services.

"It really is striking when you compare back, even back to 2015 the number of syphilis cases was 20. As of last year it was 262," said Kendra Findley, administrator of community health and epidemiology for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

Various factors contribute to increase in cases

Syphilis is a bacterial infection that impacts the eyes, nervous system and hearing, and is spread through sexual contact. The infection progresses though stages of severity — primary, secondary, latent and tertiary — and can be fatal in the tertiary stage.

Findley said the increase was due to "a complex combination of social and behavioral aspects," such as the popularity of dating or meet-up apps, as well as COVID-19 responses.

"What we're seeing is that increase due to things like dating apps or meet-up apps, where you can easily find someone with the same interests sexually, most times anonymously. You also have to look at that as a contributing factor to high-risk sexual behavior and illicit drug use," Findley said.

More:Missouri is above average in teen pregnancy, STDs. Could comprehensive sex education help?

On top of that, getting an STI test after an anonymous hook-up was more difficult during the pandemic, when the health department had to close its STI clinic in order to divert staff to the COVID-19 response.

"I think when we look at the increase in cases, that you also have to throw in a little bit of the COVID response as being a contributing factor," Findley said. "Our biggest jump in syphilis cases occurred between 2020 and 2021."

Syphilis cases in infants increasing, too

At-risk populations include men who have sex with men and bisexual men, and anyone who use illicit drugs.

A 2019 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the Centers for Disease Control found a link between illicit drug use, particularly methamphetamine, in heterosexual men and women and behaviors that increase risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

"The drug issue is not just in men or MSMs, it's across the board. We're seeing it in men and women, which has increased the cases of congenital syphilis. It's frightening," Findley said.

More:Medical examiner: 'Strong culture of meth use' persists in southwest Missouri

Congenital syphilis is when an infected person passes the disease to an infant during pregnancy.

"Syphilis doesn't have that high of a fatality rate, overall. But for congenital syphilis, it's 6.5% (fatality), which may not sound like a lot to people, but we're talking about infant deaths due to a factor that can be easily controlled," Findley said. "Syphilis is treatable."

In the primary or secondary stages, syphilis can be treated with a single penicillin shot. At the latent stage, it requires weekly penicillin doses. Syphilis affecting the nervous system, eyes and ears may require more extensive penicillin treatment, according to the SGCHD blog post.

Infections are increasing nationwide

Greene County isn't alone in seeing a resurgence of the infection. Nationally, the number of syphilis cases increased by 68% since 2017, and congenital syphilis cases increased by 185% since 2017, according to the most recent CDC data.

"I want people to be aware — aware of our local risk, but also nationally, we're seeing a stark increase in syphilis," Findley said. "So understanding the risk factors associated with syphilis, make sure that people get out and get tested so they know if they have an STI or not. I think just that awareness piece is what we need in the community right now."

The SGCHD offers free walk-in STI testing from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mondays and Wednesdays, at the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, 227 E. Chestnut Expressway. People can call 417-864-1684 to check availability or schedule appointments for Tuesdays.

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: In line with nation, Greene County syphilis cases are on the rise