USA CONGENITAL SYPHILIS San Antonio.

By Eileen Pace The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District has initiated a campaign to re-educate the population about syphilis as the city has seen an increase in the number of congenital syphilis cases over the past couple of years. Metro Health said San Antonio is number two in the state in the number of syphilis cases per capita. Last year in Bexar County 18 babies were born with syphilis and the department said that number should be zero. Dr. Anil Mangla of the Metro Health District said the city is reaching out to all the local hospitals, the medical school and local health providers to step up the testing of pregnant women and to educate their patients about the rapidly-spreading disease. "We are actually reaching out to all hospitals," Mangla said. "As a matter of fact, I’ve started presenting grand rounds at the hospitals and the medical school on congenital syphilis and making people aware because the population, as well as many of the providers, think this is a problem of the past. But it hasn’t gone away yet."