October 8, 1999 ATLANTA (AP) — The syphilis rate in the United States dropped 19 percent last year to an all-time low, the government reported Thursday as it launched a push to stamp out the sexually transmitted disease altogether.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of new cases in 1998 was 2.6 per 100,000 people, down from 3.2 a year earlier. Half of the 6,993 cases reported came from 28 counties, or less than 1 percent of all U.S. counties. Most of the 28 counties were urban. About 80 percent of all counties reported no new cases.
"Clearly we have wrestled syphilis to the ground, and now we have to put it in lockhold from which it won't escape," said Dr. Judith Wasserheit, director of the CDC's sexually transmitted disease prevention division. "We have an unprecedented window of opportunity to eliminate syphilis in the United States because rates are at an all-time low and because the disease now is extremely concentrated geographically."
The drop has been attributed, in part, to increased funding for treatment and safe-sex practices prompted by the outbreak of AIDS, such as using condoms and having fewer partners.
The South had the highest rate at 5.1 per 100,000 and accounted for 19 of the 28 counties that had the highest number of cases. The rate was higher among blacks — 17.1 per 100,000 compared with 0.5 among whites. But the disparity has narrowed since the beginning of this decade, when rates among blacks were 64 times those of whites.
"Syphilis, like many other health problems, tends to persist in communities that are plagued by a number of social problems including poverty, lack of access to health care and racism," Wasserheit said.
The syphilis rate has been declining in the United States since 1990, when it peaked at 50,578 cases, or 20.3 cases per 100,000.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that starts with painless sores and then a rash and can attack the heart and brain and cause dementia and death. It can be cured if treated early with antibiotics.
Surgeon General David Satcher and CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan were to join other national and local public health officials in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday to announce the CDC's new initiative to eliminate syphilis.
The plan, aimed at areas with a heavy burden of syphilis cases or a potential for re-emergence, calls for closer monitoring, more community involvement, quicker response to outbreaks and greater access to health care for those infected or exposed.
The government is hoping to reduce syphilis cases to a rate of 0.4 per 100,000 by 2005.
Nashville, Indianapolis and Raleigh, N.C., are the three initial sites where the plan will be put into effect.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
