Health Beats With Nurse Bowick

Hello Rochester this is Nurse Bowick. April is National Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month and this year’s theme is Syphilis strikes back. You might be thinking: “Syphilis, that problem was solved a long time ago.” Well, at one point syphilis was almost eliminated, but that is not the case anymore and we need to talk about it. 

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that can have very serious complications when left untreated, but it is simple to cure with the right treatment. Without appropriate treatment, long-term infection can result in severe medical problems affecting the heart, brain, and other organs of the body.

National data finds that syphilis is now thriving. The CDC reports Syphilis rates are at a 20-year high. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men face continuously high rates of the disease. However, it is not just men, rates are also on the rise among women, almost every race/ethnicity, multiple age groups and all regions including Rochester. Disturbingly, it has also increased among pregnant women and newborns. Miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, low birth weight, or death shortly after birth.

Syphilis’s resurgence is a bold statement that in the absence of protection and planning, sexually transmitted diseases can impact many communities at anytime and anywhere and we’re gonna talk about it Tuesday morning at 7:15 on Health Beats with the Wake-Up Club on 103.9 WDKX.

Learn more by visiting the STD Awareness Month website.