The state’s largest public hospital will accept $1 million from the federal government this month to reduce Mississippi’s syphilis rates – among the highest in the nation.

Mississippi ranks sixth in the nation for its rate of syphilis and fourth in the nation for its rate of congenital syphilis, which occurs when a mother passes the infection to her infant in utero.

Rates in Mississippi have risen rapidly in the most recent years for which data is available.

“It’s a nationwide problem but it’s especially problematic here,” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said in a press release. “And our numbers might be higher since the detection and reporting of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) were significantly less during the pandemic years.”

UMMC, the state’s only academic medical center, will use the grant to launch a year-long initiative to increase syphilis awareness, testing and treatment, according to the press release, with a focus on preventing the disease during pregnancy.

Along with declining condom use and decreased screening during the pandemic, access to care is a leading cause of the continued spike, Dobbs said.

In Mississippi, the poorest state boasting some of the worst health metrics in the country, access to care is a pervasive issue – in terms of provider shortages and uninsured people.

More than half of Mississippi counties are considered maternity care deserts, meaning they have no hospitals providing obstetric care, no OB-GYNs and no certified nurse midwives. Even when care is available, it’s not always affordable. Tens of thousands of working-class Mississippians fall into the health care “coverage gap” – making too much to qualify for Medicaid under the state’s current eligibility restrictions, but too little to afford private insurance from the marketplace.

Mississippi is one of only 10 states not to expand Medicaid in the decade since the Affordable Care Act made it an option for states. A bill to change that died in the Legislature this year after a saga of partisan politics.

The teaching hospital will partner with clinics and community-based organizations to enhance diagnosis and treatment of the disease. It will also partner with the State Health Department to ensure completion of treatment for patients and partner tracing.

“Syphilis cases are increasing across the board in the state,” said Dr. Victor Sutton, chief of community health and clinical services at the Mississippi State Department of Health, in the press release. “MSDH is looking forward to working with the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s John D. Bower School of Population Health to end this threat to public health. We have a Syphilis Task Force in place that will spearhead data collection and educate providers and the community while also ensuring proper testing and treatment of individuals.”

When treated early on in pregnancy, mothers can prevent passing the infection to their baby with a simple round of antibiotics. Up to 40% of infants born to a mother whose syphilis went untreated will die.

The State Board of Health passed an emergency order requiring physicians to test all pregnant women for syphilis in 2023, and the order is still in effect.

Part of the new initiative afforded by the grant will be aimed at increasing testing – even outside of pregnancy, explained Dobbs.

“Our emergency room physicians have been on the cutting edge of this sort of preventive health work in ERs for a while, especially with HIV and Hepatitis C,” Dobbs, the former State Health Officer, said in the press release. “Promoting universal syphilis screening in ERs has been a big conversation nationally within professional associations.”

 

By Sophia Paffenroth, Mississippi Today