Congenital syphilis

A problem as old as it is current

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to communicate to the health team the seriousness of the increase in maternal and congenital syphilis, to which multiple factors contribute that it is essential to recognize in order to propose control strategies. An investigation carried out at the Pereira Rossell Hospital Center (CHPR), by the National Child Health Program of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Perinatology-Women's and Reproductive Health (CLAP / SMR) of the Pan American Health Organization during 2007, highlighted critical aspects on which interventions should be focused. The Perinatal Information System (SIP) of the CLAP / SMR in the CHPR, registered in recent years an increasing trend of pregnant women and newborns (NBs) with reactive VDRLs (Table 1). In order to investigate the factors linked to the infection, a review of the medical records and audits of these women was carried out, and a total of 142 maternal syphilis histories were rescued. Different variables such as maternal age, parity, history of syphilis, gestational age at the first check-up, number of prenatal check-ups, VDRL screening, timely treatment, identification and treatment of sexual contacts were analyzed.