Native America Calling: The ongoing battle against a persistent surge of syphilis

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Thursday, August 29, 2024

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The ongoing battle against a persistent surge of syphilis

Syphilis is relatively easy to treat. But that fact hasn’t stopped an unremitting increase in the disease that is hitting Native people hardest.

Public health officials say American Indian and Alaska Native people currently suffer the highest syphilis infection rates of any group in the country –– and the highest recorded since the cure was discovered in 1941. The Indian Health Service warns cases of congenital syphilis have resulted in stillbirths or infant deaths shortly after birth.

Medical officials have a series of detection and treatment recommendations. Join Native America Calling revisit the problem of syphilis infections and discuss the strategies for solving it.

Guests on Native America Calling

Dr. Naomi Young (Navajo), family medicine physician and director of medical services at the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital on the Navajo Nation

Dr. Loretta Christensen (Navajo), chief medical officer for the Indian Health Service