The stratospheric rise in syphilis infections among newborns is alarming. The Mississippi State Health Department is absolutely right to consider this an emergency.
The Health Department recently ordered physicians to test their pregnant patients for the sexually transmitted disease. Mississippi had been one of only six states to not require such testing.
The change in policy came as a result of a 900% increase in babies born with syphilis between 2015 and 2021. A woman can contract the disease without realizing it, then pass it on to her infant during pregnancy, causing lifelong complications for the child and sometimes death if it goes untreated for the course of the pregnancy.
The emergency order only lasts for 120 days, but the Health Department hopes to make the testing requirement permanent. It sounds like it should be.
