Congenital syphilis: How long do we have to deal?

Abstract

Congenital syphilis is a preventable disease and its presence reflects a failure of prenatal care delivery system, as well as syphilis control programs. Adequate antenatal screening is a boon to prevent cases of congenital syphilis. There have been sporadic case reports of congenital syphilis in our country, but the exact disease burden is not very clear. We present a neonate born to a mother, who was venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) reactive and treated before delivery. This neonate was asymptomatic after birth, but serum VDRL was reactive with a 4-fold rise in titer and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) VDRL was also reactive. Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay was detected for both the mother and baby. Neonate was treated with intravenous sodium benzylpenicillin G for 10 days. During follow-up, the patient was asymptomatic and CSF and serum VDRL were non-reactive after 6 months.