Listen: Syphilis Spreads Into Rural America

April 19, 2019

Karolyn Schrage, executive director of the Choices Medical Services clinic in Joplin, Mo., says she can barely keep the antibiotic treatment for syphilis, penicillin G benzathine, stocked on her shelves. (Bruce Stidham for KHN)

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to download.

Lauren Weber, one of Kaiser Health News’ new Midwest correspondents, joined St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jeremy Goodwin on “St. Louis on the Air” Friday to discuss how syphilis is making inroads into rural counties across the Midwest and West. In Missouri, the total number of syphilis patients has more than quadrupled since 2012, testing the weakened public health safety net in areas unfamiliar with the potentially deadly infection. Listen to the interview on the St. Louis Public Radio website.

Copy And Paste To Republish This Story

Listen: Syphilis Spreads Into Rural America

April 19, 2019

Article HTML

<h1>Listen: Syphilis Spreads Into Rural America</h1>
<p><audio class="wp-audio-shortcode" id="audio-941186-2" preload="none" style="width: 100%;" controls="controls"><source type="audio/mpeg" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/st-louis-public-radio.mp3?_=2" /><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/st-louis-public-radio.mp3">https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/st-louis-public-radio.mp3</a></audio>
<em>Can’t see the audio player? <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/st-louis-public-radio.mp3">Click here to download.</a></em></p>
<p>Lauren Weber, one of Kaiser Health News’ new Midwest correspondents, joined St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jeremy Goodwin on <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/syphilis-invades-rural-missouri-fraying-health-safety-net-failing-stop-it#stream/0">“St. Louis on the Air”</a> Friday to discuss how <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/syphilis-invades-rural-america-missouri-health-care-infrastructure-crumbling/">syphilis is making inroads into rural counties</a> across the Midwest and West. In Missouri, the total number of syphilis patients has more than quadrupled since 2012, testing the weakened public health safety net in areas unfamiliar with the potentially deadly infection. Listen to the interview on the St. Louis Public Radio website. </p>

We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here’s what we ask:

You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our kffhealthnews.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and KFF Health News” in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.

Have questions? Let us know at KHNHelp@kff.org