© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Syphilis Rates Increase in Boone County, Nationwide

National rates of syphilis were high last year according to the data released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

The CDC reported there was a 15 percent increase in the amount of syphilis cases from 2013 to 2014 nationwide. Boone County is seeing a similar trend.

“In 2013 we saw 2 cases of syphilis in Boone County and in 2014 we saw 13 cases, so that’s a fairly significant increase when looking at 2013 versus 2014,”public information officer for the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services Andrea Waner said.

Waner said it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint why the increase is so substantial, but Cale Mitchell, the executive director of Regional AIDS Interfaith Network-Central Missouri said that it probably has to do with more people having unprotected sex.

“Anecdotally, we can say we collected data and we are seeing a greater number of individuals who are engaging in sexual activity that doesn’t include a barrier method, but I can’t definitively tie that back to the rate of syphilis infections that we are seeing,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also notes the typical demographic of the syphilis patient is a man age 40 or older, which is unique to syphilis.

“These are not the typically thought of sexually active college students who are most at risk in this category. It is an older population,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also says that it’s important to diagnose syphilis early, before it spreads to the brain, because once it gets to the brain the damage cannot be undone.

The Boone County Health Department offers low cost screening and free treatment to people with syphilis and other STDs.