The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued this frightening health alert on May 25:

Penicillin G benzathine is the recommended treatment for syphilis and the only recommended treatment for pregnant women infected or exposed to syphilis. [However,] Pfizer, the sole manufacturer of Bicillin L-A^® (penicillin G benzathine) in the United States is experiencing a manufacturing delay of this product.

(Syphilis, if left untreated, is a grotesque and lethal illness, and is highly infectious via sexual contact.)

The shortage of penicillin-G is just one symptom of a public health crisis: Years of shortages of a large number of common pharmaceuticals, many of which are staples of medical care, are worrying medical professionals and endangering patients. As of March 31, 195 drugs–many of them essential for treating patients in emergency rooms, outpatient clinics and ICUs–were in short supply in the United States, according to the University of Utah’s Drug Information Service, which tracks supplies.

The detailed list of drugs experiencing shortages published by FDA on June 1 is daunting. Most are generic injectable medications, including analgesics, cancer drugs, anesthetics, products needed for cardiovascular and psychiatric emergencies, and electrolytes needed for patients on IV supplementation. Last year, an acute shortage of a cancer drug called BCG prevented many of the thousands of patients dependent on the drug to go without or receive inferior alternatives.

Hospitals are scrambling to assure adequate supplies of drugs that are in short supply, or to find substitutes for them, but in many instances, patients are not getting the drugs that healthcare professionals would prefer to give.

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