The US is enduring a sharp spike in cases of babies born with syphilis, an illness that not only threatens infants’ health, but also shows that the system providing healthcare for pregnant women is fracturing.
Congenital syphilis has risen to its highest rate in 30 years, according to a recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reaching 3,761 cases in 2022. That might sound like a minuscule portion of US births, which exceed 3.6 million per year. But because the illness is so serious in newborns, health authorities are ringing the alarm. Those cases included 231 lost pregnancies and 51 infant deaths. Surviving babies are at
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