Congenital Syphilis Surveillance in Upstate New York, 1989-1992: Implications for Prevention and Clinical Management

Descriptive characteristics and clinical information from 322 cases of congenital syphilis were reviewed. The births (318 mothers) included 31 (10%) stillborn and 59 (18%) with clinical evidence of congenital syphilis. Only 60 (19%) had a complete laboratory workup, including radiographs of long bones and spinal fluid analysis. For a subset of 244 women with available information, 218 (89%) had > or = 1 risk factors for syphilis; however, residence in an area with high morbidity from syphilis was the only identified risk factor for 83 (34%). Eighty women (25%) were treated for syphilis during pregnancy; only 24 were treated appropriately for their stage of syphilis > 30 days before delivery. Five of these pregnancies resulted in infants with clinical signs of syphilis. These findings emphasize the need for expanded prenatal screening of high-risk women, the necessity of screening at delivery, and the need for complete evaluation of infants at risk for congenital syphilis. Further, the data suggest that in some cases therapy in the last trimester of pregnancy may be insufficient to adequately treat the fetus.