Asheville-area doctor, STD video star tapped by US officials to fight syphilis epidemic
Dr. Shannon Dowler of Madison County is a nationally known expert on sexually transmitted diseases. She is also the creator of awkwardly hilarious public health music videos.
For both reasons she was recently selected by national health leaders to help with an increasingly dire problem: syphilis cases that are spiking throughout the United States, including in Western North— Carolina.
"We're really in what can be defined as a syphilis epidemic as a country," said Dowler, 52, who was brought in by the Office of the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Health to help fight the epidemic as a subject matter expert on sexually transmitted infections.
Along with growing numbers of adult cases, the bacterial disease is now spreading to less traditional age groups. Congenital syphilis, after being effectively eliminated in previous years, has reemerged among newborns of infected mothers. Cases are also rising in older adults, a demographic in which Dowler specializes, and where she has applied her very different talents, authoring a book "Never Too Late: Your Guide to Safer Sex After Sixty" published by the John Hopkins University Press — and creating multiple music videos such as "STDs Never Get Old."The most well-known and social media-shared of Dowler's videos, the 2017 clip is set to the tune of Vanilla Ice's megahit "Ice Ice Baby."
"Calling out all you fellas and ladies, STDS are tearing through folks in their 80s," she raps in scenes switching between a medical office and Asheville's spray painted River Arts District.
Others include "Grandma Got Infected With A Virus" and "MPOX: Don't Touch That!" both posted in 2023.
"What I find is that if you really want to reach people, you've got to use humor and you've got to come at it from a slightly different angle," she told the Citizen Times.
A graduate of Appalachian State University and East Carolina University's Brody Medical School, Dowler moved to Asheville for a residency in 1999 and stayed there for 20 years. That was where she and her husband Jared began raising two now college-age children before moving five years ago to Madison County. During that time, she worked and volunteered in Buncombe County's STD clinic for two decades while juggling a job as clinical leader of the N.C. Medicaid program, helping with the state's COVID-19 response and working on health care access and equity with the state Department of Health and Human Services.
She currently works in the STD clinic for Mecklenburg County, a state hotspot for syphilis and where she's seen its changing nature, she told the Citizen Times May 4.
"The last three cases of syphilis I've seen in clinic are people in their 60s," she said.
In Buncombe County, syphilis infections have climbed from 27 cases of early and late-stage syphilis in 2015 to there 58 in 2022. Per 100,000 people, that's a rise of 4.8 cases to 8.4 for early syphilis, and 5.9 to 12.8 for late syphilis.
The disease is spread through anal sex and oral sex, as well as vaginal sex and is easily treatable. But the "great imitator," as syphilis is sometimes called — appearing at first usually as an ulcer and later possibly as a rash — is often misdiagnosed or brushed off by people after a symptom fades. The consequences of long-term untreated syphilis can include blindness, its spread to babies by pregnant mothers and even death.
That's why Dowler said getting tested, even if you don't have symptoms isn't a bad idea, particularly if you have had multiple sexual partners.
"Everyone should be getting regular screening at different intervals, depending on your risk factors," she said.
Meanwhile, Dowler is said she is also using her more performative side to home in on the disease, with a possible video on congenital syphilis to the tune of "Where Is The Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.
"I'm also working on lyrics to "It's Tricky" (by Run-DMC) for general syphilis," she said.
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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Western NC doctor, STD music video star fighting US syphilis epidemic
