Infant Mortality Associated With Congential Syphilis Remains A Problem in US
Originally published by Reuters Health, May 28, 2002
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Although the rate of congential syphilis has declined in the US, the percentage of associated fetal and infant deaths remains unchanged, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, report.
In the electronic pages of the May issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Deborah A. Gust and colleagues report their analysis of CDC surveillance data on congential syphilis from 1992 to 1998.
During these years, 14,627 cases of congential syphilis were reported, and there were 942 deaths, including 760 stillbirths. This translates to a case fatality ratio of 6.4%, the researchers report.
Most of these fatalities (96.2%) resulted from congential syphilis that went untreated, was inadequately treated, or went without documented treatment.
In cases of congenital syphilis, Dr. Gust's team found an inverse relationship between infant mortality and the number of parental healthcare visits. Compared with women who had 10 parental care visits or more, women who never had parental care visits were almost eight times more likely to deliver a stillborn or an infant who died.
"Although both cases and deaths from congential syphilis declined from 1992 to 1998, there was no significant change in the case fatality ratio," the investigators report.
Dr. Gust and colleagues conclude that "mortality associated with congential syphilis continues to be an important public health problem that will resurge if adult syphilis rates increase. Proximately, the continued occurrence of congential syphilis is attributable predominantly to lack of adequate screening and treatment for pregnant mothers during the prenatal period."
They add that "only by approaching the problem of congential syphilis from the standpoint of the healthcare providers and the standpoint of the broader social context in which these women are living can the elimination of syphilis and congential syphilis be achieved."
