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. 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 
 
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 David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, called the surge "a systemic failure." “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. 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. But women with untreated syphilis can pass it on to their fetuses during pregnancy or to their babies during birth. “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. 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. 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. “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.
– 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.