Modeling Congenital Syphilis Interventions for Minnesota

MADMC is modeling the potential impacts of interventions to help officials achieve their goal of having zero congenital syphilis cases in Minnesota. Congenital syphilis occurs when syphilis, a curable sexually transmitted infection, is passed from a pregnant person to their fetus during pregnancy or birth. Infants with congenital syphilis may suffer from severe health problems, including blindness, deafness, deformities, and anemia. Congenital syphilis is 100% preventable, but cases have increased in Minnesota and across the U.S. in recent years.

Our Work

In collaboration with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Minnesota Department of Health, and practicing physicians, our team is adapting a CDPH model that forecasts congenital syphilis cases in California to a Minnesota context using Minnesota data and trends. The expanded model will be used to estimate the impact of interventions under scenarios of increasing, plateauing, and decreasing rates of syphilis in the general population and determine what would be needed to achieve a goal of zero congenital syphilis cases in Minnesota.