Official Houston, Texas fighting an issue that you could have seen coming a mile away.
The city has been inundated with homelessness thanks to liberal policies and now the city is facing a crisis of its own making.
Health officials in Houston are struggling with a syphilis outbreak.
From the city’s public release:
The Houston Health Department is reporting a syphilis outbreak responsible for a 128 percent increase in cases among women and a nine-fold rise in congenital syphilis in Houston and Harris County.
The department will launch a rapid outreach response that includes increasing screening opportunities, targeting hotspots and mobilizing community partners to curb new infections.
Statistics from the department indicate new infections rose from 1,845 in 2019 to 2,905 in 2022, a 57 percent increase.
Cases among women totaled 674 cases in 2022, up from 295 cases in 2019. Congenital syphilis soared from 16 cases in 2016 to 151 cases in 2021, the latest year for which statistics are available.
According to a report from the city, there has been a 128% increase in cases among women in the area.
“You can get syphilis by direct contact with a syphilis sore during vaginal, anal, or oral sex,” the agency explains, also noting, “Syphilis can spread from a mother with syphilis to her unborn baby.”
Local news affiliate KPRC reported that other urban areas are dealing with similar issues.
“As a large urban jurisdiction, we’ve got to be really aggressive in our response when we see these kinds of cases because we have millions of people who may be at risk,” the Houston Health Department’s Deputy Assistant Director for the Bureau of HIV/STI and Viral Hepatitis Prevention Marlene McNeese told the outlet.
“To see the numbers rise at this alarming rate really sounded the alarm for us,” she added.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that if untreated can result in serious health complications.
