In a New York hospital, a baby girl was born 11 weeks premature, but this was only part of her problem. The peeling skin of her hands, the sores on her feet, the enlarged liver and spleen, all gave clear evidence that she had contracted syphilis while in her mother’s womb.

“Some babies are so severely damaged by the disease while in their mothers’ wombs that they are stillborn,” reports “The New York Times.” “A few others die soon after birth, some with severe skin lesions that break during the delivery.”

And The New York Times announced early in this decade: “New cases of syphilis are at the highest level since 1949.”