US Preventive Services Task Force: Combat Syphilis Through Screening

There is no other way around it. For the battle against syphilis to be won, increased screening and detection among high-risks individuals is called for.

According to the US Preventive Services Task Force, at-risk individuals such as HIV-positive men, men who have sex with men, and men ages 20 to 29, all need to be screened at least once a year. The Task Force even recommended getting screened to once every three months. It's that important. 

The US Preventive Services Task Force is an independent volunteer panel of experts that analyze how effective certain preventive care services are. Their current recommendation is now part of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The battle against syphilis has become more intense, with the US currently losing. Between 2013 and 2014, syphilis cases rose by 15%. There are now more than 20,000 cases of syphilis. 

According to the two syphilis experts, Drs. Meredith Clement and Charles Hicks, behind this editorial entitled "Syphilis on the Rise - What Went Wrong," hopes for eradication of the deadly disease has long been dashed. The efforts toward eradication were also ceased.

"Rates of syphilis have trended steadily upward since 2000, and the CDC's syphilis elimination efforts officially ended as of December 2013," the experts said. Clement and Hicks claimed that insufficient funds, more risky sexual behaviors, as well as the focus on HIV prevention all took a toll on syphilis eradication efforts. 

While the attention has shifted to HIV, syphilis has not become any less deadly. According to CNN, if left untreated,15% of syphilis cases can become deadly.

The only way it will not become deadly if it i caught early. If the at-risk individual get tested as early as possible and syphilis is detected, it may be easily treated. Even something as simple as consuming penicillin works!

 It's really high time that at-risk individuals get tested and screened.  

The high rate of syphilis case right now is  problematic because there was once a time when syphilis was nearly eliminated already. Back in 2000, there were only four cases of the deadly sexually-transmited disease for every 100,000 Americans. 

Whenever there were outbreaks at the time, they were mostly confined in certain geographic areas. Majority of those with syphilis at the dawn of the century were people of color. 

The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention was needless to say, excited about the prospect of completely eliminating syphilis. "There is currently a narrow window of opportunity to eliminate this disease while cases are still on the decline," the CDC said in 1999. "Eliminating syphilis in the United States would be a landmark achievement." 

While the number of Black people with syphiis remain disproportionately high, the number of syphilis cases grew leaps and bounds from then and now.