Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Auu-GrE5_/

Congenital syphilis, that is babies born with this dread disease, has surged 7-½ fold over the past decade.  The CDC announces this frightening statistic as it reminds all of us, pregnant women and the medical teams that care for them, that fetal and newborn syphilis is completely preventable.  

This disease occurs in pregnant women and the babies they carry due to multiple missed medical opportunities in 88% of cases.  Thirty-seven percent of women were never tested at the outset of pregnancy and 40% of the already infected received inadequate treatment.  For those developing syphilis while pregnant, two-thirds received inadequate therapy.

In-utero syphilis triggers miscarriages and stillbirths.  Babies born with it suffer skin lesions, dental deformities, failure to thrive, meningitis, seizures, intellectual disabilities, blindness, and deafness.

If you’re pregnant or thinking about it, don’t do this to your baby.  Make certain you’re tested before getting pregnant or as soon as you know that you are.  If you think you’ve been exposed later in pregnancy, get tested.  The treatment is the oldest and most common antibiotic: penicillin.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7246e1.htm?s_cid=mm7246e1_w

https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/pediatrics/infections-in-neonates/congenital-syphilis

#syphilis #congenital #pregnancy #penicillin