A mid-Atlantic city with one of the country’s highest crime rates is facing an epidemic of babies being born with a deadly sexually transmitted disease.
Baltimore, Maryland, a city run by Democrats that has been named ‘one of the most dangerous places to live’ in the US, is facing the nation’s highest rate of congenital syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease (STD) passed from an infected mother to infant.
According to Johns Hopkins, a top medical institution located in Baltimore, the city had a congenital syphilis rate of 274 cases per 100,000 live births in 2022.
The US nationwide is contending with a surge in the disease and the rate increased from 60 cases per 100,000 births in 2020 to 110 per 100,000 births last year.
Cases rose nearly 82 percent from 2020 to 2024, the most recent data available. In 2020, the CDC recorded 2,168 cases of congenital syphilis. By 2024, that number rose to 3,941.
According to the agency, this is the highest number of cases of the disease since 1992.
Doctors believe the rise is being driven by lack of access to general medical care and education, as well as by pregnant women not receiving prenatal care and testing and not following up with treatment after testing.
Nearly 40 percent of pregnant women who tested positive did not receive any or adequate treatment, according to new CDC data.
Cases of congenital syphilis have more than tripled in recent years, with 3,882 cases reported in 2023 (stock image)
Pregnant women’s sexual partners who don’t receive STD screening or treatment also contribute to the rise.
And many infected people will show no symptoms of the infection.
Forty-three percent of birth parents did not receive syphilis testing during their pregnancy and 23 percent were not treated for a positive case. This contributed to almost 90 percent of congenital syphilis cases across the US in 2022.
For nine in 10 cases of the STD in infants, testing and treatment during pregnancy might have prevented the transmission of the potentially deadly disease to newborns, Johns Hopkins estimates.
To combat the outbreak, the city of Baltimore awarded Johns Hopkins $225,000 in 2024 to help provide testing and care to at-risk or infected individuals.
Head of Johns Hopkins’ Center for Communication Programs August Summers said during the announcement: ‘We will be bringing awareness about the issue to Baltimore, both to people who are pregnant and their partners who likely also need treatment, as well as to providers to help improve counseling and testing.
‘There is a possibility of infant death, and that’s really what we want to prevent above all else.’
Syphilis is an STD contracted during sex that causes skin rashes and sores
Primary syphilis sores begin at the infection site such as the mouth or genitals. Secondary syphilis rashes appear on the hands and feet.
Congenital syphilis can cause symptoms such as bone deformities, jaundice, rashes and lesions.
However, both syphilis and congenital syphilis are preventable by using condoms during sex and can be treated by the antibiotic penicillin.
When left untreated, the disease can lead to neurological problems, premature and stillbirths, and after-birth death.
Health agencies have recommendations for syphilis testing, providing self or at-home STD tests to expand the options for pregnant women.
Rebecca Dineen, assistant Baltimore health commissioner for maternal and child health, said officials were focused for years on the pandemic, rather than on congenital syphilis
Every state recommends a test in the first trimester, 18 states recommend it for the third, and nine recommend it post-birth.
Only eight states mandate syphilis screenings after delivery.
Additionally, syphilis rates among African Americans are some of the highest in the US and Baltimore’s population is 60 percent African American.
The pandemic may have also played a part because health leaders were more focused on Covid than other infections.
Rebecca Dineen, assistant Baltimore health commissioner for maternal and child health, told The Baltimore Banner: ‘We went through the pandemic, and our eye was not on congenital syphilis.’
The CDC states: ‘Increasing rates of syphilis among babies reflect a failure of the US health system.
‘Testing for and treating syphilis during pregnancy more than 30 days before delivery can prevent this infection in newborns. Too many people are not being tested and treated early enough during pregnancy.’
The only cure for congenital syphilis is the antibiotic benzathine penicillin, which is administered by injection. However, it is currently facing a worldwide shortage.
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