Guns Locks and Outbreaks: A Vanderburgh County Health Department Update

Evansville IN

10 May, 2022

8:44 AM

Description

By Tim Jagielo, WNIN May 10, 2022 Syphilis, and securing firearms safely, are two recent topics of importance at the Vanderburgh County Health Department. Administrator Joe Gries brought both topics to the County Commission recently. There is a syphilis outbreak in southwest Indiana and beyond. It's concerning to officials because cases are nearly 10-times higher in a six-month period than they are normally, and positive tests are still coming in frequently. Syphilis is a bacterial infection usually caused by sexual contact, according to the Mayo Clinic. Gries said it's treatable with a version of penicillin, but if it isn't caught, it could be deadly. "You can lose your hair, and then eventually it's going to affect some of your internal organs and eventually could be a problem with your nervous system," he said. "It could eat away your your brain cells and you're going to die from that." He said they've been using contact tracing to try to contain the outbreak. There is a concentration of cases around downtown and the eastside of Evansville. Gries blames the pandemic for the outbreak. As the Health Department fights sexually transmitted infections, they're also fighting gun-related deaths and injuries in children. Every year, children are injured or killed by unsecured firearms in the home. The County Health Department secured a grant from the Indiana Department of Health to help buy locks for personal firearms earlier this year. In the past few years, eight children have been killed by a firearm that's not locked up. Gries said incidents are either homicide, suicide or accidental injuries or deaths. "We see every year, children under the age of 18, that die from or are seriously injured from gunshot wounds. And one of the things that we see and know is a lot of these weapons are obviously unsecured," he said. Agencies like the Sheriff's Office, Safe Kids Coalition and Southwestern Mental Health will receive and distribute the locks which are being purchased soon. WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.