Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
The Grinch axed the “have a healthy” part of the New Year greeting. We are plummeting into a maelstrom of illness. Measles is no longer rare. As for whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis, influenza, pneumonia, COVID — physicians are holding their breath. Expect a predictable correlation: As vaccinations drop, the diseases will rise. Expect too a surge of diseases that we treat routinely, from diabetes to hypertension. With insurance premiums rising 20% or more, families will end up with weaker coverage - or drop coverage in favor of rent and food. States will be dropping people from their Medicaid rolls. The result: more untreated illnesses.
How refreshing to turn to Valentine’s Day, to look to Cupid for solace. Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Americans with and without documentation — we all yearn for love in February. We hope Cupid’s arrow will pierce hearts, making Shakespeare’s sonnets come to life.
The dreary reality, though, is that Cupid’s arrow comes with a tiny poisonous barb: sexually transmitted infections — syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, a cruel trifecta. I concede: in this season of love, talk of STIs is a downer. Why ruin the ecstasy of promised passion?
The statistics are glum. Gonorrhea dropped to a low in 2009 (98.1 cases per 100,000 population ) rose by two-thirds in 2023 (179.5 cases). Chlamydia rose from 2009 (405.3 cases) to a peak in 2019 (552.8 cases) to 492 cases in 2023. Syphilis is the horror story: it increased from 39.6 cases per 100,000 in 2019 to 62.5 cases in 2023. Nationally, we had 209,253 reported cases of syphilis in 2023 the highest annual total since 1950. (https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/features/syphilis-resurgence-us/) Cases of congenital syphilis increased for the 12th consecutive year in 2024, with nearly 4,000 cases reported. If the mother delivers successfully (miscarriage and stillbirth are not uncommon), the child may suffer from a range of maladies, including bone deformities, deafness, blindness, and brain damage.
Sadly, we have no magic to take the venom out of Cupid’s arrow. We don’t want to blunt the arrow that gives so much joy. But we want to mitigate those diseases that taint the joy.
The good news is that we can. With testing and screening and vigorous public health initiatives, we can reduce the incidence of those diseases. Prenatal care, STI clinics, follow up care, substance abuse treatment — all work. If we cannot eliminate that venom, we can mitigate it. People in throe to Cupid need not end up in hospitals, waiting for a diagnosis, figuring out how to pay for medications.
Taking the venom out of Cupid’s arrow requires money. The conservatives in Congress have cheered the President’s Big Beautiful Budget cuts. Congress, bowing to the President, is stripping money from states’ public health departments, forcing states to reduce, or drop, many of the programs that would address sexually transmitted infections (as well as other diseases). Ironically the state with the highest incidence of STIs is ultra-conservative ultra-Republican Mississippi; the state with the lowest, Vermont.
In the season of love, let’s hope that our solons honor both Aphrodite, the goddess of love , and Cupid, her son. In this grim winter, we need them both. But let our solons also honor the Charites (Graces). These daughters of Zeus encouraged generosity and goodwill. Many Americans need that generosity and goodwill far more than they need the fiscal austerity designed to reduce taxes for the wealthy.
Joan Retsinas is a sociologist in Providence, R.I., who writes about health care. Email joan.retsinas@gmail.com.
