The Texas Department of State Health Services issued a public health advisory for Lubbock County Wednesday, after finding the rate of syphilis cases this year has tripled.
“The purpose of the advisory is to have physicians and providers in the community know that we’re seeing this increase,” Lubbock’s Director of Public Heath Katherine Wells said, “Therefore, if they’re seeing these body rashes, they can consider syphilis and run the appropriate tests.”
The health department said the sexually transmitted disease has been found in people ages 17 to 62.
“There’s really two primary ways to avoid it,” infectious disease physician Lawrence Martinelli said. “There’s abstinence, which means you don’t have sex with anybody, or if you are going to have sex, you need to use condoms to protect yourself and your partner.”
Dr. Martinelli said for people who believe they have been exposed to contact their primary healthcare physician or the department of health for proper diagnosis and treatment.
“The symptoms to watch for are painless ulcers on your genitals and throat, rashes on the palms and soles; that’s not much else it could be besides syphilis, and you can get a body wide rash later in the disease,” Dr. Martinelli said.
If left untreated, syphilis can have long term effects including blindness and dementia. Health officials said, in most cases, syphilis is easily treated with penicillin.
