The Department of Health and Human Services announced Aug. 12 a $4 million initiative to expand rapid syphilis testing and treatment at the point of care, targeting mothers and newborns in communities with the highest rates of congenital syphilis.
Congenital syphilis, transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, is entirely preventable with timely detection and treatment, yet cases have risen in the United States for several consecutive years.
Rapid point-of-care testing enables immediate treatment without waiting for laboratory confirmation, a key intervention to prevent mother-to-child transmission, according to HHS. The investment focuses on increasing testing availability in underserved communities.
Congenital syphilis can cause stillbirth, neurological damage, bone deformities and other severe outcomes in newborns. The CDC reported more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis in the most recent reporting year, a tenfold increase from a decade ago.
The rising national caseload represents a public health system failure in a condition that has been preventable since the widespread availability of penicillin. The $4 million investment targets the testing gap at the most critical intervention point, during pregnancy.
The initiative is administered through HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration, which funds maternal and child health programs in communities with limited health care access. Point-of-care testing eliminates the delays associated with laboratory processing that can allow the infection to progress untreated.