Texas authorities are struggling to address the recent syphilis outbreak in the state due to the "limited supply" of penicillin drugs that could be used to treat the bacterial infection.
The rise of syphilis cases in the United States has prompted growing concern over the availability of Bicillin, which is an injectable penicillin. It is used to treat sexually transmitted bacterial infections in both adults and kids.
Syphilis Outbreak in Texas
Authorities from the city of Houston officially declared on July 13 a syphilis outbreak, citing a 128% increase in the number of cases found among women and a rise of nine times in the number of congenital syphilis cases in Houston and Harris County.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month announced that it was expecting a "limited supply and impending stock out situation" for select Bicillin medications. The situation comes as cases of syphilis have continuously risen for the past few years.
All stages of the bacterial infection, which is spread through sexual contact or from a mother to her unborn child, have risen by 74% since 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that there have been more than 176,000 reported cases in 2021, according to Fox News.
Health officials also noted that the number of cases of congenital syphilis, which is when the infection is passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, has risen by 32%. The situation resulted in 220 stillbirths and infant deaths.
Authorities also noted that certain regions of the United States have experienced an even more significant spike in the number of syphilis cases being reported. In Texas, the state's Department of Health and Human Services reported that congenital syphilis cases have jumped by 650% since 2016.
In a statement, James Hodges, M.D., who is an internist in Waco, Texas, and has been in practice for more than two decades, said that two prisons in Texas have reported a surge in positive syphilis cases among their women's intake units.
Recommending Testing for the Infection
The deputy director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, and Prevention Studies at the Rutgers School of Public Health, Kristen Krause, Ph.D., said that there has been a consistent drop in the amount of funding for sexual health services and programs in the last couple of decades, according to Yahoo Life.
She attributed the rise in the number of syphilis cases to fewer people being aware of the bacterial infection and those who are being tested for it, including women. The outbreak comes as syphilis is not the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States.
The chief of the Health Department's Communicable Disease and Public Health Nursing Division in Hawai'i, Dr. Diana Felton, urges all sexually active people who have risk factors for STIs to get regularly tested for syphilis and other infections.
She noted that for women who are pregnant, they are recommending syphilis screening three times, the first as early as possible during the first trimester, the second at 28 to 32 weeks of gestation, and the third at the time of delivery of the baby, said Big Island Now.
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