Virginia's rising syphilis cases are another bellwether of a strained public health system - WWBT
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. Since at least 2016, cases of syphilis — a sexually transmitted disease once thought to be on the verge of eradication — have been rising across Virginia. Cases increased by 158 percent between 2007 and 2017, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, and rates jumped again the following year. In 2020, the most recently available data, there were 1,288 new diagnoses of early-stage syphilis, an increase of 228 cases compared to just four years earlier. 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 stillbirth...