2016–2021: 900% Spike in Congenital Syphilis. 2019–2022: 128% Rise Among Women. Feb 2024: Fake Condom Bust in Houston. What Are We Missing?

JB Quinnon
Apr 17
2 min read

From 2016 to 2021, congenital syphilis in Houston rose by 900%.

From 2019 to 2022, syphilis cases among women jumped 128%.

By July 2023, the city officially declared a syphilis outbreak.

Then in February 2024, police uncovered a massive counterfeit condom operation—$158,000 worth of fake Trojan condoms being sold out of Flip Wholesale in NW Houston.

And who bore the brunt of all this? Black women and their babies.

The same communities that already face limited access to testing, poor STI outreach, and underfunded healthcare are now the ones potentially exposed to fraudulent sexual health products.

Black women already make up over 50% of HIV diagnoses among all women in the U.S., with heterosexual contact being the most common route of transmission. So why were these neighborhoods not prioritized in prevention, response, or justice?

This isn’t just negligence. It’s racialized public health failure.

If a fake condom scheme overlaps with a deadly STI outbreak in one of the most medically vulnerable populations in the country—and no hate crime or public health sabotage investigation follows—what message does that send?

When the victims are Black, does the outrage get quieter?

The timeline is real. The data is documented. The consequences are deadly.

Tag someone who needs to see this. Tag someone in power. Tag someone who still thinks this was random.

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