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NC Medicaid will cover alternative treatment for syphilis

North Carolina health officials say they will increase access to an alternative treatment for syphilis. 

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, NC Medicaid will now cover the cost of Extencilline for use in treating syphilis and congenital syphilis.

This comes as the state is seeing a sharp rise in cases.

Officials say Extencilline is more in demand amid an ongoing national shortage of penicillin normally used as a first-line treatment for the disease.

State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson released a statement noting that congenital syphilis infections are the highest they’ve been in nearly two decades, resulting in more lifelong health impacts and infant deaths.

She says the state remains committed to protecting residents through early detection and rapid treatment of infection.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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