JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new billboard in Jacksonville is bringing awareness to maternal syphilis rates during pregnancy, which according to the CDC more than tripled from 2016 to 2022.
The billboard can be seen driving on I-10, in the Stockton area, and it shows a pregnant woman with the word “syphilis.” And it goes on to say how it can be fatal to your baby. Underneath, it directs people to freestdcheck.org.
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Just this month, the CDC released new data on mothers giving birth who have the sexually transmitted infection.
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News4JAX contacted the city’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Sunil Joshi to learn more about the STI in pregnant women and the billboard.
“The whole idea here is for women, pregnant women to be screened for syphilis. Because in pregnant women who have syphilis 40% of the time they’re able to pass that on to their baby,” Joshi said.
If mothers do pass the STI on to their babies, this is called congenital syphilis.
This can result in things like:
- A stillbirth or baby being born dead
- A baby dying shortly after birth
- Brain and nerve problems, like blindness or deafness
- Deformed bones
Two years ago in Florida, 276 babies were born with congenital syphilis. That’s 95 more babies born with the infection compared to 2021.
In Duval County, there were 35 babies born with congenital syphilis. Clay County had two, St. Johns and Nassau counties zero.
In 2021, Duval and Clay had fewer babies born with it. Duval had 26, Clay had one and St. Johns and Nassau both had zero.
Joshi said this is preventable, and urged the practice of safe sex — and also getting checked.
He said these checks can happen at prenatal visits where if a pregnant woman finds out she has the STI she can get it treated.
“Penicillin, which is a very cheap antibiotic works exceptionally well for syphilis and pregnant women can take penicillin as well. As long as they don’t have an allergy to it. And it can eradicate the infection in that person so that you’re not passing it on to the baby,” Joshi said.