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Congenital Syphilis

FACTS:

Congenital Syphilis is a condition that occurs when a baby is born to a mother infected with syphilis, a common venereal disease.  The infection is passed through the placenta to the unborn child.  Congenital syphilis can be severe, disabling and often life threatening for the infant.  Almost half of all children infected with syphilis while in the womb die at birth.  Syphilis is easily treated and curable.

Symptoms and signs to look for in a newborn:

1. Irritability.
2. Failure to gain weight or failure to thrive.
3. Watery discharge from the nose.
4. Early rash- small blisters on the palms and soles- IMPORTANT:  the liquid inside the blisters carries the organism which causes syphilis and is contagious.
5. Later rash- copper-colored, flat or bumpy rash on the face, palms, and soles.
6. Rash at the junction of the skin and mucus membranes of the mouth, genitalia and anus.
7. No bridge to nose (saddle nose).
8. Severe congenital pneumonia.
9. Enlarged liver and yellow skin.

Symptoms and signs to look for in an older infant or young child:

1. Bone pain.
2. Refusal to move a painful extremity.
3. Bowed lower legs.
4. Joint swelling.
5. Abnormal teeth (notched and peg shaped).
6. Scarring of the skin around earlier lesions on the mouth, genitalia and anus.
7. Vision loss.
8. Clouding of the cornea.
9. Decreased hearing or deafness.
10. Gray, mucus-like patches on the anus and outer vagina.

TREATMENT:

• Proper doses of medicine (penicillin) will cure syphilis. It is important to have the baby treated immediately because additional health problems can arise if the baby is left untreated.    
• The baby should be retested after treatment to make sure the medication worked.