Health officials monitoring syphilis outbreak in Greenville

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) _ Disease intervention specialists are concentrating their efforts in Greenville, where 15 cases of syphilis have been confirmed since June. <br><br>The specialists, working out

Monday, November 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) _ Disease intervention specialists are concentrating their efforts in Greenville, where 15 cases of syphilis have been confirmed since June.

The specialists, working out of the district office of the Mississippi State Health Department in Greenwood, have teamed up with the Washington County Department of Human Services in the fight to halt further outbreaks of the sexually transmitted disease.

Health officials say 21 people are known to have been in contact with the 15 confirmed cases.

Jerome Winston, supervising the intervention effort, said the team hopes to prevent another syphilis epidemic, the likes of which gripped the city from 1987 to 1995.

During those years, Winston said the number of cases was staggering. In 1993 alone, 1,040 cases were reported in a nine-county area of the Delta.

The official campaign has ended but the demand for educating the public has not.

The latest public service campaign is centered in a five-street area in Greenville.

``These locations have been targeted because of the high number of individuals in that area that are known to trade sex for drugs,'' Winston said.