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Mississippi battles 900% increase in babies born with syphilis

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Mississippi battles 900% increase in babies born with syphilis

Mississippi is leading the country in syphilis cases, resulting in a tragic uptick of newborns risking death from the disease across the state.

Mississippi has had a more than 900% increase in babies born with syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease that is also passed to an infant during pregnancy – in six years ending in 2021. Syphilis can cause miscarriages and death. Surviving children born with the disease can have major malformations and life-long complications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported preliminary data that 2,677 babies nationwide born with congenital syphilis in 2021. It was the highest number reported in one year since 1994. Case counts have been rising steadily since 2013.

“It’s absolutely alarming and shocking,” said former State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, “and it’s totally preventable.”

Dobbs now leads the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Population Health. He and other leading health care officials in the state are trying to warn parents and colleagues about the growing problem.

“Years past, it was a rare and uncommon event (at Forrest General Hospital), where we had a couple babies per year with congenital syphilis,” said Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician at The Pediatric Clinic in Hattiesburg. “Now, we are seeing babies on a monthly, sometimes weekly basis, who test positive from mothers who received partial treatment, or no treatment.”

Syphilis is treated effectively with penicillin. Despite a simple cure, Mississippians are continuing to contract and pass along the illness with dire consequences.

In 2016, eight babies in Mississippi were born and hospitalized with syphilis. In 2021, that number hit 106, according to data Dobbs shared based on health department and hospital discharge numbers. While syphilis cases in infants have gone up nationwide, Mississippi’s rate of increase is nearly five times the national average.

“The numbers are bad,” said Dr. Charlotte Hobbs, a professor of pediatric infectious disease and microbiology at UMMC, “and they’re just going to get worse.”

Mississippi is tied with Nevada for the leading rate of overall cases of syphilis per population of 100,000.

Most states require syphilis screenings in pregnancy by law, but Mississippi is one of six that doesn’t. Without mandatory screenings, some mothers are shocked to learn they even have the disease. They may not have symptoms, and by the time they do find out, it’s sometimes too late.

State Epidemiologist Paul Byers recently told NBC the Department of Health is exploring the possibility of a testing mandate through its regulatory authority.

“The messaging isn’t always clear,” Hobbs said, “but syphilis can kill your baby and it can kill you.”

Henderson said it largely comes down to a lack of sexually transmitted disease education. Sometimes those who have syphilis don’t realize a single dose of treatment isn’t enough to eradicate the infection and they need multiple doses. Maybe they were treated, but their partner never was, and they got reinfected.

“I do think they are surprised to learn syphilis can cause problems with the baby,” Henderson said. “Syphilis is easily treated … so it is not something people think about a cause of death in children in 2023. But we have had several babies die and many other suffering long term issues.”

Dobbs said poorer women – usually women of color – especially struggle to access prenatal health care. Nearly 71% of the babies born and hospitalized with syphilis in Mississippi in 2021 were Black, according to data provided by Dobbs. It’s another example of the state’s alarming health care disparities in treatment of the Black population in Mississippi.

Transportation is a major barrier. OB-GYN offices can be a long haul from rural portions of the state, and county health clinics are dealing with major nursing and staff shortages. County health clinics may offer free syphilis screenings, but nine locations have closed in recent years, and more have reduced their hours.

“We don’t have a comprehensive support network where women are accessing prenatal care,” Dobbs said.

He sees that as the largest barrier. Another comes with how difficult it is for expecting mothers and parents to access health care in general, especially under Medicaid. That’s why doctors across Mississippi are pushing for the state’s Medicaid coverage to include presumption of eligibility during pregnancies. A bill in the House that would have sped up access to care for mothers at lower income thresholds during pregnancy already died this session.

It’s not uncommon for an expecting mother to wait more than a month before their public health insurance is approved after they become aware of their pregnancy. That public health insurance covers about 65% of the state’s pregnancies.

Doctors offices often won’t see pregnant patients until they have their coverage card in hand – which could mean missing out on penicillin treatments in the first trimester, when outcomes would be the most favorable.

Penicillin treatments, though relatively simple, are pricey. Doctors’ offices often don’t want to take on that expense without the assurance they will be paid back.

“Women of a reproductive age need to have regular health care to have proper family resources,” Dobb said. “Women should be empowered to time births consistent with their desires, with the counseling of physicians.”

But in Mississippi that access often isn’t easy to come by. Dobbs said the syphilis outbreak is a reflection on the depletion of Department of Health resources.

“If your health department doesn’t have anybody in them, you can’t get tested or treated,” Dobbs said. “Those are the bread-and-butter pieces of syphilis control. Over the past two decades, public health has deteriorated remarkably.”

Now, an increasing number of children in Mississippi are living with the consequences.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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