Syphilis cases rising in Virginia

For more than two years, COVID-19 has largely monopolized the time and resources of local health departments across Virginia. But as the virus moves into an uneasy plateau, health officials are turning their attention to another infectious disease with alarming rates of growth…

Even more concerning has been a persistent rise in congenital infections among infants who contract the disease from their mothers. A decade ago, in 2011, Virginia had zero cases. In 2020, there were 15, including five syphilitic stillbirths. Preliminary data from 2021 indicates another rise, pushing the state to 17 cases, according to Oana Vasiliu, the director of STD Prevention and Surveillance for VDH.

Up to 40 percent of infants born to women with untreated syphilis are stillborn or die from the infection shortly afterwards. Babies that survive can have serious health complications, including jaundice, severe anemia and blindness. The rapid spread of the disease over the course of a few years has worried public health workers across the state, from on-the-ground specialists to the department’s top leadership. Dr. Colin Greene, Virginia’s newly appointed state health commissioner, identified syphilis as one of the agency’s biggest post-pandemic priorities…  Virginia Mercury  4/25/22

Sexually transmitted illness (STI) testing is available at all health departments in the West Piedmont Health District. Contact the local departments for more information.

Seroprevalence. The number of persons in a population who test positive for a specific disease based on serology specimens.

Serology. The testing of blood serum to detect the presence of antibodies against a specific antigen.

First he said we were out of the "full blown explosive pandemic phase . . . and into hopefully a more controlled phase and endemicity . . ." and then modified that to say "by no means" was the pandemic over and that we are "in a different moment of the pandemic."  -- Dr. Anthony Fauci on April 26 & 27 .  PBS NewsHour/NewsNation 4/28/22

Epidemiology is the science at center of public health.

As U.S. Nears COVID Milestone, What has it Learned?

By David Beard, Executive Editor, Newsletters, National Geographic 4/25/22

The U.S. has a habit of prematurely declaring victory over deadly diseases--and then a new wave roars back and kills hundreds of thousands more Americans. At least that was the cycle more than a century ago with the Spanish flu (which actually began at an Army camp in Kansas, pictured here). Back then, there was some opposition to health experts and mask mandates; applause when the mandates ended; surprise when the killing resumed.

These days, Americans face conflicting mask rulings and guidance, signs of a gathering variant, and the approaching milestone of one million documented COVID-19 deaths. Researchers studying the Spanish flu found death rates varied widely by city, based on how early, stringent or prolonged the public health precautions were.

A century later, drugs and public hygiene have improved dramatically, but the world has become a more crowded, interconnected place, Toby Saul wrote for Nat Geo’s History magazine. And humans still are wired to be impatient, gravitating toward the easy thing—wanting, powerfully, to believe they’ll be fine. History and baseball great Yogi Berra tell us this: It ain’t over 'til it’s over.

Resources

• Vital records. VDH has launched a new online Vital Records Application. This application can be used to request certified copies of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates. The new online application can be accessed on the VDH website under Vital Records or directly at: www.vdh.virginia.gov/vital-records/applications-for-a-vital-record/  "We believe the new system will help us meet the needs of our customers faster, and provide them service in a more accessible and convenient way,” said Director of the Office of Vital Records Seth Austin.
  
• Variants on dashboard. There’s a new update available on the VDH’s COVID-19 Variant Dashboard. You can now filter for the new BA.2 Omicron variant. Check out the updated variants dashboard at http://ow.ly/xZ6b50IswFZ