Congenital syphilis is a serious disease which occurs by transplacental infection at any stage of pregnancy. The stage of maternal syphilis, gestational age of the fetus, adequacy of the maternal treatment and the immunological response of the fetus cause a variety of different clinical presentation. Two thirds of infected infants are completely asymptomatic at the time of birth. Therefore antenatal screening for the disease becomes important for determining asymptomatic newborns. Congenital syphilis is currently declining in most of the developed countries. However it still remains to be an important public health problem in underdeveloped countries. The continued occurrence of the disease may be an indicator of the inadequate or ineffective antenatal care services and poor quality of programmes to control sexually transmitted diseases. Because the disease remains an important cause of neurodevelopmental and musculoskeletal disability and death in infants in resource-poor settings, antenatal screening is cost-beneficial and cost-effective in both developed and underdeveloped countries.
Keywords: Congenital syphilis, asymptomatic newborns, antenatal screening