Virginia, along with many other states, is seeing an alarming increase in congenital syphilis (CS) cases. The Virginia Department of Health reported that the number of CS cases in 2021 was the highest in more than three decades.
Director of sexually transmitted disease prevention and surveillance for the Virginia Department of Health, Ms. Oana Vasiliu, in a letter to colleagues said that syphilis rates among women in Virginia of reproductive age have increased and are driving the increase in cases among newborns, with a record high of 20 CS cases in infants reported in 2022.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is normally transmitted through sores on the skin. However, pregnant women can pass the infection to their fetuses. When a baby becomes infected before birth, this is known as CS….