Addressing Racial/Ethnic Healthcare Disparities and the Rising Incidence of Syphilis

Abstract

Some sexually transmitted infections have posed a particular epidemiologic problem for some communities, in that racial/ethnic disparities have been demonstrated. Syphilis represents a specific example of such an infection, compounding the medical problem further by adding to the serious consequences of its vertical perinatal transmissibility to the neonate, in addition to its sexual, or horizontal, transmission. The recently rising incidence of syphilis in the pregnant woman and the potential for the rising incidence of congenital syphilis should be a cause for global concern. However, what may be concluded as a problem within communities of color, may actually be a problem relating more closely with a socioeconomic disparity. Multiple deliberate measures may be needed to affect its eradication, which is naturally possible, given the longtime availability of the simple curable medical compound of penicillin.