Baltimore syphilis epidemic

The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tipping Point , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. In the city of Baltimore, there was a syphilis epidemic in the mids.

For decades, a couple people got syphilis every year—but something happened in the 90s that caused hundreds of people to get the disease. Another theory for the epidemic is that medical services in Baltimore declined in the 90s—there were fewer doctors per person in the 90s than in almost any earlier decade, suggesting that doctors failed to address the syphilis problem before it became an epidemic.

Finally, some theorists argue that the epidemic started because of the destruction of a set of housing projects. People who lived in the projects moved to different parts of Baltimore, spreading syphilis with them. The chapter begins with another description of a sudden, unexpected social epidemic. In this case, the phenomenon was a literal epidemic: a sudden increase in syphilis, a serious venereal disease, in the city of Baltimore.

Interestingly, there are at least three major explanations for why syphilis cases shot up in Baltimore. Active Themes. Tipping Points and the Importance of Small Changes. The three explanations for the syphilis epidemic all propose that there was a subtle change in life in Baltimore—a small, steady decline in doctors, the destruction of a couple projects, etc.

Rather, Gladwell argues that social epidemics tend to be triggered by very small, almost invisible changes in the status quo.

Related Quotes with Explanations. Gladwell proposes three laws for studying Tipping Points. The first is called the Law of the Few. These people had staggering numbers of sexual partners, went out every night, and were generally unlike the average adult. Yet they had a huge influence on Colorado.

During the study period, 90 women were identified who had active syphilis during pregnancy and who delivered infants. Mothers of case-patients and mothers of controls had similar demographic characteristics.

Mothers of case-patients and mothers of controls differed with respect to several prenatal care-related factors. Among the 90 mothers, three were allergic to penicillin; none was desensitized and treated with penicillin during pregnancy 4.

Therefore, the three mothers delivered infants who had illnesses meeting the CS case definition. Missed prevention opportunities also were identified for most of the mothers of case-patients who had had early prenatal care.

At the time of this investigation, Maryland law required syphilis screening of all pregnant women in the first and third trimesters, but there was no stipulation on the timing of the third trimester test. Editorial Note: Congenital syphilis is one of the most devastating yet preventable outcomes of a sexually transmitted disease STD.

Fetal complications include spontaneous abortions and stillbirths, and infant complications include multisystem disorders and death. Treatment of maternal syphilis with penicillin is highly effective in preventing CS 5. The CS epidemic in Baltimore occurred despite dramatic declines in syphilis incidence in the United States. Among blacks, the national rate was per , live-born infants in compared with in Baltimore. The large racial differential in CS rates suggests that other factors for which race is often a proxy e.

The prevalence of drug use was high among all women who had syphilis during pregnancy. However, in this investigation, the type of drugs used differed between mothers of case-patients and mothers of controls. For example, heroin use, either alone or in addition to cocaine use, was significantly associated with CS, and cocaine use alone was not significantly associated with CS among this group of women who had syphilis during pregnancy.

These results may not be generalizable to other populations. The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, most of the data were gathered through record review.

Because of environmental, social and cultural factors, officials say this population has difficulty accessing quality health care, which is contributing to the higher STD rate. Syphilis rates increased by nearly 18 percent overall from to , according to the CDC's annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report. Of the 2 million new STD diagnoses in , the majority — 1.

It can have no symptoms but may present through discharge, burning while urinating, pain, rectal bleeding or swollen testicles. It can cause serious, permanent damage to a woman's reproductive system. Washington, D. Maryland was No. There were , gonorrhea cases nationally in , according to the CDC.

Most who are infected do not have symptoms or may mistake them for a bladder infection. Especially prevalent among those 15 to 24 years old, it can cause infections in the genitals, rectum and throat. Gonorrhea cases increased by While both men and women were affected, the steepest increases were seen among men and research suggests that a large share of new gonorrhea cases are occurring among men who have sex with men.

The increase in gonorrhea cases is particularly alarming in light of the growing threat of drug resistance to the last remaining recommended gonorrhea treatment, said Bolan. The CDC's Antibiotic Resistance Lab in Maryland is working on a pilot program to identify outbreaks of gonorrhea and develop alternative treatments. Individuals are encouraged to talk about STDs with their partners and to get tested. Ways to reduce the risk of getting and transmitting STDs are using protection, practicing abstinence or reducing the number of partners.