Ah, syphilis. Long known as the scourge of amorous sailors and Al Capone, the venereal disease is more often a punchline than a serious health concern these days, a remnant of a pre-AIDS world. Lately it is thought of — if it's even thought of at all — as nothing more than a treatable STD, more revolting than deadly. In North Carolina, however, the disease may soon be known for something else: getting you a pretty nice discount at your local Wal-Mart.

MSNBC reports that local health officials in Forsyth County, N.C., are rewarding citizens who agree to get tested for HIV and syphilis with a $10 Wal-Mart gift card for their participation.

The plan appears to be in response to an uptick in confirmed syphilis cases this year, 140 as of Sept. 14 in Forsyth County. This is more than triple the number reported for all of 2008. Officials blame the poor economy for the spike in sexually transmitted diseases, noting that when employment goes down everything from drug use to prostitution seems to flourish.

Forsyth County Department of Health officials told MSNBC that they estimate roughly half of the 603 people tested under the new plan have done so in large part because they were motivated by the promise of a $10 gift card. After perusing this website for a few minutes, does it really shock you that a large number of Wal-Mart shoppers will only agree to be tested for a potentially deadly STD after they've been promised a $10 gift card?

According to the report, the infant mortality rate among newborns who are infected with syphilis while in-utero is in the neighborhood of 40%, while the disease can also facilitate the spread of more deadly infections such as HIV. A Center for Disease Control report released earlier this year paints a more vivid picture of the recent resurgence in syphilis infection. According to the report, between the years 2000 and 2007, the number of reported cases of primary and secondary syphilis spiked from 5,979 to 11,094. These kinds of facts and figures can most likely qualify the disease as a legitimate public health concern.

Evelyn Foust, director of the North Carolina Department of Public Health's communicable diseases branch, explains that this is a not just a local issue but a regional one that touches on almost all aspects of public life. "In the South we have more people living in poverty," she told MSNBC. "They have little or no health insurance." She went on to note that when the number of STD cases go down, uninsured people will use emergency rooms less often, newborns will require less hospital care, and fewer man-hours will be lost to sick leave.

Supporters of programs like the one currently under way in Forsyth County argue that the long-term benefits will ultimately save money and justify the current expenditure. Of course one may counter, and quite justifiably, that the focus of public health officials should be on prevention rather than dealing with people who have already been infected. Then again, we have yet to see a government program that has successfully convinced people to abstain from unprotected sex, so there is really no reason to think that is about to change in this case.

At a time when the economy and healthcare are two of the biggest issues facing Americans, the case of Forsyth County is indeed a curious one. On the surface it may seem like just another case of an impoverished corner of the map (10.5% of families in Forsyth live below the poverty line) dealing with the collateral damage of citizens having way too much time on their hands. But reports like the one released by the CDC show that the ripple effects of such a situation are potentially devastating.

Forsyth County can be looked at as something of a microcosm of the worst aspects of American life in 2009: not enough jobs, not enough insurance, not enough responsibility. It will take a lot more than a gift card to change that.