A disease which took decades to plummet is now rising by 900% in babies after an alarming rise in congenital syphilis.
Health officials in Mississippi, US, have reported babies are being treated for the contagious sexually transmitted infection, which has seen a huge increase over the last five years.
In 2016, there were just 10 newborns born in Mississippi needing treatment for the disease.
But in 2021, there were 102 babies treated including one newborn who tragically died, according to the Mississippi state health department.
Syphilis, which is normally spread through sex, can be contracted by babies through their infected mums.
The disease produces an ulcer, where it enters the body, and appears between 10 and 60 days after infection.
Congenital syphilis can cause issues in babies such as severe anemia, enlarged liver and spleen, jaundice, brain and nerve problems such as blindness and deafness, meningitis, disfigured bones and skin rashes.
The increase in infections has left medics at the state-run Crossroads Clinic in Mississippi shocked.
Thomas Dobbs, medical director of the health department, told NBC: “This seems like something that should have happened a hundred years ago, not last year.
"There’s really kind of a shock."
The disease can also cause miscarriages, stillbirths, and low birth weight depending on how long the mum has had the infection.
Medics believe the huge rise in cases is due to poor prenatal treatment, which should include syphilis testing, in addition to hospitals being understaffed and overworked since Covid.
Steve Threlkeld, medical director for infectious diseases at Memphis’s Baptist Memorial Healthcare, told WREG News Channel: “The numbers have been skyrocketing and I think, like so many people, the public health system has been stretched.
"This is just one of those examples where we have the data, we know about the cases but you have to have the manpower to diagnose the patients, then do contact tracing and follow up to make sure they’re continuing to come back for treatment."
Congenital syphilis cases can be prevented if the mum receives a number of penicillin shots at least a month before giving birth.
However, if a mum hasn't been treated before the birth the newborn will remain in hospital for two weeks while they're being treated.
Dr Anita Henderson, a paediatrician in a Hattiesburg, Mississippi, revealed in the last three to four years she's treated more babies with the disease than in entire career.
She said: "I don’t think many people know there is the potential for babies to die from congenital syphilis."
