Sex education

I am writing in response to the article April 19 titled “Sex Education Quietly Disappears from Fresno Unified Schools.” It is very important to educate our youth regarding sexually transmitted diseases. One particular STD I would like to address is syphilis. As a pediatrician, I see an increasing incidence of newborn babies who are born to mothers with syphilis and need to be treated for syphilis infection at birth.

The statistics published by the California Department of Public Health for 2013 have been alarming. There are now 4.6 cases of syphilis per 100,000 females and 16.2 cases of syphilis per 100,000 males in 2013. This is compared to 1.5 cases of syphilis per 100,000 males and 1.5 cases per 100,000 females in 2004. The rates of syphilis will continue to rise if we do not act today.

I urge the Fresno Unified School District to implement a curriculum in sex education. This will benefit the health of our citizens and prevent the long-term sequelae of syphilis infection in newborn babies.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Sex education."