Maricopa County is currently fighting to prevent several sexually transmitted diseases ranging from HIV to the surprising current rise of syphilis over the past few years.

According to HIV.gov there has been a 78.9% increase in all strands of syphilis over the past five years.

Syphilis is among two STDs that have been rising this past year, the other being gonorreha.

“While chlamydia and HIV have seen a decline of 6.2% and 12%, respectively, gonorrhea and syphilis have seen an increase of 11.1% and 78.9% respectively over the same five-year period. The most concerning marker of that is that congenital syphilis has seen a rapid 184.4% increase in the last five years,” said Ashleigh Mingo, medical director at Affordable Rapid Testing.

The growing rates have caused panic among health officials in Arizona, because of the simultaneous rise of congenital syphilis in pregnant women. According to the CDC, Arizona consistently ranks within the top 12 states with the highest rates of chlamydia, syphilis and gohnarea.

Maricopa County has been consistently monitoring the growing rates of STDs since 1999. According to the 2018 annual report, syphilis has seen a 166% increase from 1999 to 2018, while congenital syphilis has seen a 56% increase in that same time frame. Gonorrhea has seen a 150% increase in that period.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that spreads through vaginal, anal and oral intercourse. The infection causes sores around the genital area in the early stages, however, if the infection is left untreated it can worsen and eventually result in death if left for a prolonged period.

Congenital syphilis is a different type of infection that is spread from a pregnant mother to their baby. Congenital syphilis can affect the birth of the baby and in some cases cause the baby to die.

Syphilis disproportionately affects men more than women. The Arizona Department of Health Services has data from 2023 in Maricopa County that shows male Syphilis cases were 1,578, while women had 557 reported cases. However, the yearly average of syphilis cases in women has increased 449% since 2015.

The data given by Health Services reports that 44.2% of cases come from the Hispanic/Latino community. Arizona ranks fifth in the country for syphilis cases.

Congenital syphilis numbers are increasing predominantly, a statistic shows that in 2022 219  babies were born with symptoms of Syphilis, and 32 were stillborn. This number may seem minor, but Arizona ranks third in the country for most Congenital syphilis cases.

Mingo gave her perspective on the reasoning behind the increase.

“Rates are increasing in gonorrhea, and syphilis and pretty much holding steady at chlamydia, this is due to lack of proper STD education, affordable testing solutions, and lack of Point of Care or POC solutions,”.  

This syphilis outbreak is not solely affecting Arizona. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared the syphilis issue a ‘public health priority’. On April 19, 2024, a National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic Task Force was formed to use federal funding to improve treatment and education across the country.

 “The syphilis crisis in our country is unacceptable[...] These actions we are taking will help ensure we are improving outcomes for birthing parents and newborns. We must prevent more deaths caused by congenital syphilis, an entirely preventable disease,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra.

Oliver Boye is a student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.