(Des Moines, IA) — Preliminary data from the Department of Public Health for 2021 show significant increases in some sexually transmitted diseases (S-T-D’s). The Department’s S-T-D Program Manager, George Walton, says syphilis has reached its highest numbers in the state in a generation. There were 554 syphilis infections reported in 2021 — an increase of 55 percent from the preceding year. Walton says the number of women infected took a big jump from around nine percent to 23 percent, with “historic increases” in congenital syphilis — which happens when the infection is passed from a pregnant woman to the fetus or newborn. The information also shows rates of syphilis among minority populations are increasingly disproportionate.
6am Learfield News Wire
