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BLACK HAWK COUNTY, Iowa (KWWL) — Today at a Black Hawk County Board of Health meeting, the board voted to pass a resolution to encourage providers to test sexually active people for syphilis, in response to rising rates of the STI.
The resolution primarily asks providers to offer syphilis testing as they would gonorrhea or chlamydia while rates are high. The new CDC recommendation specifically goes into effect when the rate of infection of women from 15 to 44 is higher than 4.6 per 100,000 in the county. When the rate is lower or equal to 4.6%, providers are still recommended to identify risk factors and conduct testing if needed. Though they are using women to determine the rate, the recommendation for testing is for everyone who is sexually active.
Sarah Mergenthaler is the Disease Surveillance and Investigations Manager at Black Hawk Public Health. She says Black Hawk County is well above the threshold for the recommendation.
“The county level map that the CDC has released, has placed Black Hawk County having a rate of 18.1 per 100,000 population, for primary and secondary syphilis for women between the ages of 15 and 44 years old,” she explained.
The CDC recommendation stems from the 2030 Healthy People goal, which works to improve health across the country by 2030.
“By using this threshold mark it will help reduce stigma and bias in syphilis screening, improve access and testing, and treatment for everyone, and support the progress towards meeting that 2030 people goal, and also prevent congenital syphilis by identifying and preventing syphilis before pregnancy,” explained Mergenthaler.
The Iowa Department of Public Health tracks Iowa STI data for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis on several data maps on their website. The data is from 2022, but Black Hawk County had around 50 cases of syphilis that year.
While Black Hawk County’s rates appear high, BHCPH says this new recommendation is not a scare tactic, but a better effort to be preventative.
“This is most definitely a preventative measure, syphilis is preventable and to be preventable you can get screened and tested and treated for it,” said Mergenthaler.
The reason the recommendation is based on reproductive aged women- is because of preventative action against congenital syphilis. That’s when a woman passes the disease onto her baby during pregnancy or birth.
“We’re tracking that because we want to prevent congenital syphilis- so that’s why we’re looking at the reproductive age,” she said.
No matter a resolution, age or gender, the department is hopeful the move will help spark conversations between patients, doctors, and sexual partners.
“Just starting the conversation with your partner or even your providers to talk about your sex life is the first step- to talk about your sexual health history,” said Mergenthaler.
Black Hawk County Public Health offers several STI prevention services and testing at their facility. It includes free gonorrhea and chlamydia testing, free condoms, and more. The facility also offers rapid syphilis testing, which is done with just a poke of the finger. For more information visit their website here.