Syphilis cases increasing in Hamilton County amid shortage of treatment drug | Local News

Syphilis cases are on the rise across the country and here in Hamilton County.

We are seeing the highest increase in 70-years.

Within the last year, Hamilton County has seen a 75-percent increase of syphilis cases between this time last year and now.

Dr. Stephen Miller with Hamilton County Health Department said the age group the department is seeing with syphilis is concerning.

“We are seeing in our younger individuals, especially our females of reproductive age. We have seen as much as a 500-percent increase in the last couple of years in that population. What concerns us with that is that this is the population that is going to be having children,” said Dr. Miller.

Dr. Miller said there has been a 600-percent increase in children born with syphilis.

“What ends up happening is about half of those pregnancies go on to have a miscarriage and children that are born with syphilis, many times have many developmental problems associated with that. That’s concerning, we want to try to prevent that,” Dr. Miller said.

While seeing the increase in cases, there are is a shortage of penicillin, the medicine used to treat the sexual transmitted infection.

“The increase in syphilis is taxing us by way of the penicillin shortage, we have enough to meet the needs of our community, but not only nationwide and worldwide we are seeing a penicillin shortage as a result of this increase in syphilis,” Dr. Miller said.

He said the health department is working with the state to ensure they have enough penicillin and other alternatives to properly treat people in our county.

If you have been exposed to syphilis and are not aware, here’s a few of the signs.

“If they are experiencing any kind of discharge, if they are having any kind of body wide rash, or any kind of general urinary symptoms that are out of what they normal experiencing, they probably need to be checked out,” Dr. Miller said.

Getting tested is important and can be done through your medical provider or the Hamilton County Health Department.