US Officials Yet To Declare Years-Long Syphilis Outbreak Disproportionately Impacting Native Americans A Public Health Emergency

KFF Health News (11/7, Rodriguez) reports “federal, state, local, and tribal groups” are responding to “a years-long syphilis outbreak” with fewer resources than the COVID-19 pandemic “because federal officials haven’t declared it a public health emergency.” Public calls “for testing are part of health officials’ efforts to halt the outbreak that has disproportionately hurt Native Americans in the Great Plains and Southwest.” KFF Health News says that “according to the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center, syphilis rates among Native Americans in its region soared by 1,865% from 2020 to 2022 – over 10 times the 154% increase seen nationally during the same period.” The epidemiology center’s region includes “Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.” Additionally, the center “found that 1 in 40 Native American and Alaska Native babies born in the region in 2022 had a syphilis infection.”