By Tina Shelton JABSOM Communications Director
Newborn infections have doubled; can be disabling, even fatal to infant
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is reaffirming the need to screen all pregnant women in for syphilis, which may be present but undetected by expectant mothers, with devastating effects.
“It can cause deformities, it can cause blindness, deafness, and even more tragically, it could actually cause a complete loss of the baby, so that’s the reason why the task force is recommending screening every pregnant woman as early as possible in the pregnancy,” said Dr. Chien-Wen Tseng, Family Medicine Associate Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine and the first-ever Hawai’i member of the USPSTF.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can be passed from pregnant women to their babies. Cases of the infection among infants have doubled since 2012.
“It is really important to get screened because early stages of syphilis may not have any symptoms that are really noticeable it may be something as simple just as a small painless sore and women may not notice it,” said Dr. Tseng.
The increase in syphilis among infants is especially concerning, because syphilis can be safely and easily treated with a single dose of antibiotics that have a very high cure rate and are safe for both the mom and the baby, according to Dr. Tseng. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent panel of medical experts, funded by the U.S. government that reviews research evidence and makes recommendations on preventive health care.
The task force will accept comments about the proposed screening recommendation through March 5, 2018.
About Dr. Tseng
Dr. Tseng is the Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association (HMSA) endowed chair in health services and quality research, an associate professor, and the associate research director in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. She is also a physician investigator with the nonprofit Pacific Health Research and Education Institute, an affiliate of the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System. Dr. Tseng is an active physician and a teacher of primary health care and preventive care to medical students and family medicine residents. As a family physician, Dr. Tseng’s research focuses on improving quality of health care and lowering financial barriers to care, such as reducing the high cost of drugs for chronic and acute diseases.
Dr. Tseng, a graduate of Punahou School, received a B.S. in electrical engineering and a B.A. in mathematical sciences from Rice University, an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and an M.P.H. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She earned her M.D. from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Tseng was a visiting scholar with the Robert Graham Center for Policy and Research in Washington, D.C. She is also an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar Program at UCLA and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Program.
About the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine
The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawaiʻi honors its unique research environment to excel in science-based efforts to eliminate diseases that is proportionately affect people in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region. Annually at JABSOM, more than 600 future physicians are learning medicine JABSOM, researchers secure $52 million in grants, and overall economic stimulus to Hawaiʻi from the school tops $456 million annually. JABSOM also confers degrees in Clinical Translational Research, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Cell and Molecular Biology, Medical Technology and Developmental and Reproductive Biology.
About the Task Force
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services, such as screenings, counseling services, or preventive medicines. More information on the Task Force is available at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org