Syphilis Kills 500,000 Infants Around The Globe Annually; 2 Population Groups In Australia Affected With Communicable Disease

Syphilis has now become deadly that it is a major culprit of almost 500,000 infant deaths across the globe annually, says Australian expert Basil Donovan, who depicted the case as “an international scandal.” Donovan urges medical experts to come up with a vaccine as syphilis is no longer “an imaginary evil.”

American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, published a report, which states that pregnant women infected with syphilis can pass such disease to their foetus through birth or their placenta. The results are mortifying, including premature birth, still birth and other different birth defects.

Donovan, a professor at University of NSW, where he teaches Sexual Health, narrates to AAP that in Australia, two populations are afflicted with syphilis — youthful aboriginal heterosexuals and urban gay men in remote areas. In a study in which Donovan was a co-author, Syphilis infections remain to be a pressing and real public health concern as it was supposedly curable with a sole shot of penicillin. But for 70 years of not manifesting traces of antibiotic resistance, it resumes, wreaking havoc worldwide, including male homosexuals and heterosexuals.

Syphilis infections devastated and killed more for centuries in worse ways than HIV did in 1994 during the latter’s peak. But immediately after it was discovered that Syphilis infections could be cured with penicillin, the scare disappeared.

Donovan was bewildered that while Syphilis infection is cured with penicillin, the patient may catch the disease again as there is no vaccine developed for it. Syphilis infections, which are curable by penicillin do not scare the public at all. In the past, this scenario was no issue because treatment is affordable.

At the present and while pharmaceuticals are yet to decide on the feasibility of developing vaccines, Donovan cautioned the public to be constantly on guard especially at first signs. Primary syphilis begins with having painless sores on skin. When left untreated, the symptoms may include swollen lymph glands, headache, mouth sores. Rashes may also occur anywhere.

Besides syphilis, infants may as well be infected with cytomegalovirus when pregnant mothers have been infected during conception. CMV can cause deaths, mental disorders and other defects. Researchers are urging the Australian government to ban pregnant mothers from kissing on mouths to avoid infection. Syphilis is primarily contracted through a sexual intercourse with a person already carrying the bacteria.

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