Centers for Disease Control recorded 918 cases of syphilis in infants in 2017, a 46% increase on the previous year 
 
 Number of babies born with syphilis in US hits 20-year high, report finds 
 
 Nearly 1,000 babies were born with syphilis in the United States last year – a number that has more than doubled in just four years, new statistics show. 
 
 The spike in babies born with the dangerous but easily curable disease is one face of a sexually-transmitted disease (STD) crisis that has worsened across the country, with diagnoses hitting a new record high in 2017. 
 
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 There were 918 cases of syphilis in infants in 2017 – a 20-year high, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up 46% from the 628 cases the year before, and up from 362 in 2013. 
 
 “It’s just a systemic public health failure,” David Harvey, the executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, told the Guardian. “It’s shocking that this has come roaring back in the United States.” 
 
 The spike in the disease, known as congenital syphilis in infants, comes even as the US has come close to eliminating the transmission of HIV from mothers to children. 
 
 The 918 cases last year included 64 babies who were stillborn, and 13 who died as infants. 
 
 It is easily preventable: women who test positive for syphilis while pregnant can be treated and cured with penicillin, and won’t pass the disease on to their babies. 
 
 But some women never get tested, while others test negative but then contract the disease during their pregnancy. Left untreated, there’s an 80% chance a woman will pass the disease on to her baby. 
 
 “When passed to a baby, syphilis can result in miscarriage, newborn death and severe lifelong physical and mental health problems,” said Dr Jonathan Mermin of the CDC. 
 
 “No parent should have to bear the death of a child when it would have been prevented with a simple test and safe treatment,” Mermin said. 
 
 The spike in infant cases comes amid a jump in syphilis infections overall – there were 30,644 diagnoses in 2017, a 76% increase from the previous year. 
 
 Gay and bisexual men make up a large majority of people diagnosed with syphilis. But for the last five years, syphilis rates among women have been rising as well. 
 
 The syphilis rate went up 143% among reproductive age women since 2013, according to the CDC, bringing with it a jump in babies born with the disease. 
 
 Infants born with syphilis were reported in 37 states, with western and southern states the hardest hit. Louisiana had the highest rate of congenital syphilis of any state. 
 
 Harvey said the increase reflects a failure to make sure women are tested for the disease at the correct times in their pregnancies, and a lack of access to prenatal care overall. 
 
 The opioid epidemic has also contributed to the uptick, with women who use drugs more likely to engage in risky sex and less likely to get proper treatment. 
 
 “A small number of women are trading sex for drugs,” Harvey said. “There is a very real intersection between congenital syphilis and substance abuse.” 
 
 Total STD diagnoses have reached a record high – with nearly 2.3m cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2017, according to the CDC’s report. That’s an increase of more than 200,000 cases from the previous year, and the fourth straight year there has been a sharp increase. 
 
 “Not that long ago, gonorrhea rates were at historic lows, syphilis was close to elimination, and we were able to point to advances in STD prevention,” Dr Gail Bolan, the director of the division of STD prevention, said in the CDC’s report. “That progress has since unraveled.” 
 
 The infections have surged as STD prevention funding has dwindled, and condom use has declined. 
 
 Harvey is pushing the Trump administration and Congress to declare the issue a public health emergency. 
 
 “This field is starved for resources. It’s become a crisis,” he said. ||||| The number of babies born with syphilis surged from 362 in 2013 to 918 in 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. (Photo: Orbon Alija, Getty Images) 
 
 The number of babies born with syphilis has more than doubled since 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a trend that medical professionals said shows the need to be vigilant about testing and treating the rare but potentially disease. 
 
 The number of babies born with syphilis rose from 362 in 2013 to 918 in 2017, the CDC reported Tuesday. The greatest number of cases were in the South and West. 
 
 Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is easily cured with penicillin. But women with untreated syphilis can pass it on to their fetuses during pregnancy or to their babies during birth. 
 
 If transmitted, it can cause miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death. Syphilis caused 77 stillbirths or newborn deaths in 2017, the CDC reported. 
 
 For babies who survive, it can lead to an assortment of physical and mental health problems. 
 
 More: Sexually transmitted diseases surge for the 4th straight year, CDC reports 
 
 More: STDs reach all-time high in California, leading to spike in stillbirths due to syphilis, state health authorities say 
 
 More: Washing hands and other ways to protect newborns from deadly herpes virus 
 
 David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, called the surge "a systemic failure." 
 
 "We are failing pregnant women in the United States," he said. "We are seeing almost 1,000 babies born with syphilis that can easily be prevented." 
 
 The United States has made HIV transmission from mothers to newborns extremely rare, in part through the federal Ryan White Part D program, which funds community programs that provide care to pregnant women with HIV. 
 
 Harvey's organization wants a similar program to prevent the mother-to-newborn transmission of syphilis. Harvey said pregnant women should be tested for syphilis as early as possible and later in their pregnancies. 
 
 According to the CDC, mothers of one in three babies born with syphilis in 2016 were tested during pregnancy. But they were either infected after getting tested, or they were not treated in time to prevent passing the infection to the baby. 
 
 Thirty-seven states reported cases in 2017. Louisiana ranked first with 93.4 cases for every 100,000 births. 
 
 "We're not proud of these numbers," said Dr. Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. "Every case of syphilis should be preventable." 
 
 Gee said Louisiana has worked to reduce the number of new cases. 
 
 The state examines every case of newborn syphilis to lean steps that could prevent future cases, she said. One trend they discovered was moms who initially tested negative for the infection or were treated in their first trimesters contracted syphilis during later stages of pregnancy. 
 
 Louisiana requires doctors test pregnant women for both syphilis and HIV in the first and third trimesters. 
 
 The health department has also assigned case managers to Baton Rouge and Shreveport, the two regions with the highest number of cases. They work to raise awareness among doctors about the need to test. 
 
 Case managers and doctors also warn pregnant moms who have been tested or treated that they can contract the infection again, said DeAnn Gruber, the department's director of infectious diseases. 
 
 "Education is really important," Gruber said. 
 
 The Arizona health department's newly formed maternal morbidity review board identified congenital syphilis as a growing problem. 
 
 Arizona's 36 cases so far in 2018 already have surpassed last year's total, state health officials said. Six babies have died at or shortly after birth this year. 
 
 California had the most cases of congenital syphilis in the nation, and the third highest rate, according to the CDC. 
 
 One of the state's biggest challenges is reaching people who don't have access to prenatal care, said Heidi Bauer, chief of STD control for the California Department of Public Health. 
 
 Bauer said common barriers are poverty and unstable housing. Some moms are struggling with substance abuse, and may avoid drug testing or interaction with government agencies such as Child Protective Services. 
 
 California public health officials have attempted to reach out to at-risk people through needle exchanges and in prisons, Bauer said. 
 
 "Syphilis is one of those ancient diseases that tends to reemerge where people are largely marginalized," Bauer said. 
 
 Preliminary figures reported by the CDC last month showed new cases of the most common treatable sexually transmitted diseases – chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis – spiked nearly 10 percent in 2017 to an all-time high. 
 
 These infectious diseases have continued a four-year climb. Analysts cited changing sexual behavior and a lack of awareness. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2pBI8Po ||||| (CNN) In 2016, Americans were infected with more than 2 million new cases of gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia, the highest number of these sexually transmitted diseases ever reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. 
 
 "Clearly we need to reverse this disturbing trend," said Dr. Gail Bolan, director of CDC's Division of STD Prevention. "The CDC cannot do this alone and we need every community in America to be aware that this risk is out there and help educate their citizens on how to avoid it." 
 
 The agency's annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report shows that more than 1.6 million of the new cases were from chlamydia, 470,000 were from gonorrhea and nearly 28,000 cases were primary and secondary syphilis, the most infectious stages of the disease, according to the CDC. While all of these can be cured by antibiotics, many people go undiagnosed and untreated. 
 
 Only those three STDs and HIV are required by law to be reported to the CDC by physicians. When you include herpes and more of the dozens of diseases which can be transmitted sexually but which are not tracked, the CDC estimates there are more than 20 million new cases of STDs in the United States each year. At least half occur in young people ages 15 to 24. 
 
 "STDs are out of control with enormous health implications for Americans," said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. The coalition represents state, local and territorial health departments who focus on preventing STDs. 
 
 "If not treated, gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can have serious consequences, such as infertility, neurological issues, and an increased risk for HIV," said Harvey. 
 
 Common STDs 
 
 The most common STD is chlamydia. It's caused by the bacteria chlamydia trachomatis , and like most STDs, is easily transmitted by all forms of sexual activity -- oral, vaginal or anal -- as well as during childbirth. Chlamydia is known as a "silent" infection, because most people have no symptoms, which means it often goes untreated. In women, it can ultimately cause pelvic inflammatory disease that can scar and affect fertility. In men, it can cause testicular pain and swelling. 
 
 Gonorrhea is another bacterial STD that can be silent, but often displays symptoms such as burning during urination and vaginal or penile discharge. If caught anally, it can create itching, bleeding and painful bowel movements. If not treated, gonorrhea can cause severe and permanent health problems, including long-term pain and infertility. 
 
 Syphilis is the most serious bacterial STD. Left untreated, syphilis can affect the brain, heart and other organs of the body, ultimately leading to death. It's called the "Great Pretender," because the symptoms of syphilis which include rashes and chancres, or sores, fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, headaches, muscles aches and fatigue, mimic other diseases. As the disease progresses, the symptoms go away, and progress silently to it's most deadly stage. 
 
 At one point, the United States had all but eliminated syphilis, turning it into a "disease of the past," said Bolan. 
 
 "Back in the '40s, the advent of penicillin, which is quite effective against syphilis, allowed us to dramatically reduce cases," she added. "I remember a professor in medical school explaining what it was to us but then said 'You'll never see it.' " 
 
 However, the new data show that rates of this potentially deadly disease increased almost 18% between 2015 and 2016, with most of the cases in men who have sex with men. There was also a rise of the disease among women who pass it on to their newborns. There were 628 cases of congenital syphilis among newborns reported in 2016, with more than 40 deaths and severe health complications among the babies who survived. 
 
 "For the first time in many years, we are now seeing more cases of babies born with congenital syphilis than babies born with HIV," said Harvey. "It means that women are not getting access to prenatal care, testing and treatment for syphilis. It's an unconscionable situation in America today." 
 
 "This is a completely preventable problem," agreed Bolan. "Every baby born with syphilis represents a tragic public health system failure. All it takes is a simple STD test and antibiotic treatment to prevent this tragedy from occurring." 
 
 What happened? 
 
 Bolan and Harvey both point to funding deficits as a huge part of the reason STDs are on the rise. 
 
 "Several factors are fueling the STD epidemic," Harvey said. "Funding cutbacks for prevention, education and healthcare programs, an on-going debate about sex education for young people, with cutbacks in that arena, particularly from this administration, and a rise in social media dating apps have all contributed to the rise." 
 
 Another reason is the lack of symptoms for these diseases and a failure of practitioners to educate their patients on what to look for. To counter the problem, the CDC has recently published a provider guide for physicians and is creating a network of clinical training centers for doctors. 
 
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 "The fact that so many of these diseases are asymptomatic, which few tell-tale signals, mean that men and women aren't getting into their doctor to be tested," said Bolan. "We need to get the word out that everyone needs a yearly checkup. And we need to re-educate physicians to look for signs of such 'ancient' diseases as syphilis." 
 
 But an even bigger issue to overcome, Harvey said, is the embarrassment of having an STD. 
 
 "Unfortunately, STDs carry enormous stigma in this country, and it's hard for people to come forward for treatment," said Harvey. "Ironically, HIV is an STD, but we have a very visible community who advocates and works to tell stories about the impact of HIV on people's lives. We don't have that going for us with gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia. We need a network of voices that say it's OK to get help."
– The CDC's director of STD prevention says that "not long ago" syphilis was close to elimination. But some troubling new statistics show that a lot of ground has been lost in the fight against STDs, and it's affecting some of the most vulnerable members of society. According to a new CDC report, 918 babies were born with syphilis in the US in 2017, the Guardian reports. That's a 20-year high. For context, there were 628 cases of syphilis in infants in 2016. In 2013, there were 362. Of the 2017 cases, 77 resulted in stillbirths or newborn deaths, per USA Today. Western and southern states had the most cases of congenital syphilis in 2017, per the report, with Louisiana having the highest rate. "It's just a systematic public health failure. It's shocking that this has come roaring back in the United States," David Harvey of the National Coalition of STD Directors tells the Guardian. Syphilis is easily treated with antibiotics, and women can be treated while they are pregnant to prevent the disease from being passed on to their child. But, per the Guardian, some women do not get tested, and others contract the disease while pregnant after testing negative. In some cases, there is a connection to drug use. Overall, there were 30,644 syphilis diagnoses in the US in 2017—up 76% from the year before.