DENVER — On Thursday, a Colorado public health order took effect that requires healthcare providers across the state to provide syphilis testing to pregnant people following a major increase in cases among newborns over the past several years.
“What we know happens in congenital syphilis is that there's a really high mortality rate," said State Epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy."In fact, about 40% of the time, when a person is pregnant, and their syphilis infection goes untreated, we see that case is fatal. So we see miscarriages, stillbirths, or death in the baby shortly after birth. We also see some longer term consequences in babies that do survive.
The state is recommending pregnant people receive three syphilis screenings during pregnancy: during the first trimester, third trimester and at the time of delivery. “We at TBD have seen people coming in with increased syphilis rates," said Stephanie Estey, co-founder and co-CEO of TBD Health."A lot of times people are going months without even being tested."“A lot of times, STIs aren't emphasized in sex ed. There's so much related to not getting pregnant, but not really the importance of STI testing or what some of the implications can be," she said."In addition, also how people are having sex is changing.