Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2018 - 12
p h i l a m e d s o c .org
feature
Like Trying to
Corral the Ocean...
The Daunting Task of Subduing
Philadelphia's Syphilis Outbreak
By: Alan Miceli, Editor
T
imothy Amorim is one of Philadelphia's syphilis
detectives - a disease intervention specialist for
the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
He has the often frustrating, sometimes dangerous job
of tracking down people with syphilis.
Amorim's search brings him in contact with prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts, pimps and johns, and
people who are none of the above, but often have sex
with dozens of partners each year. He tries to make
sure that those with the disease get the medical care
they need. But, first he has to find them, then he has to
convince them to get tested, then he has to talk them
into identifying all of their sex partners.
The finding part has changed over the years. Amorim
gets referrals, but the old method of often knocking on
doors has been largely replaced with combing social
media sites. "It can be frustrating," he admits. "You
can't let it get you down. Have to keep striving to get
to the end goal - which is to intervene and stop the
spread of the disease."
The disease has roared its way back into the city and
much of the United States in recent years. After almost
being given up for dead near the turn of the century,
syphilis has become a modern-day scourge. In 2000,
according to the CDC, there were only 2.1 cases of the
disease per 100,000 population. By 2016, syphilis cases
in the country had more than tripled.1
12 Philadelphia Medicine : Summer 2018
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2018
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