Record STD rates drive syphilis in newborns
BAKERSFIELD (KRON) – Newborns who have syphilis are being delivered in record numbers.
The STD was almost non-existent in the year 2000, but now, it’s soaring and the most vulnerable among us are falling victim, according to CNN.
STDs, in general, are way up.
The most glaring number is syphilis rates rose 27 percent across the country from 2014 to 2015. The Centers for Disease Control says lots of women do not know they have syphilis or are unaware their unborn baby could be infected.
Doctors say the problem is exploding and the results are horrifying. Baby after baby is being born severely anemic, lungs filled with fluid, and bodies covered with rashes. Some only lived minutes, and others died within days or weeks.
The problem is rampant in low-income areas. And in California’s Central Valley, it’s out of control.
In Fresno, for instance, there were 40 newborns born with syphilis in 2015, up from just two babies four years earlier.
Some advocates and people in the health profession are fearful that repealing Obamacare could result in this trend continuing, with more low-income women unable to afford routine care during pregnancy which would alert a doctor to their condition.