Demographic and clinical factors associated with congenital and gestational syphilis

Abstract

Introduction: Congenital and gestational syphilis is a systemic infectious and contagious disease, of compulsory notification, with chronic evolution and caused by Treponema pallidum. The increase in cases of syphilis in pregnant women and congenital occurred with the widespread of the rapid test, reduction in the use of condoms and the shortage of penicillin. Objectives: To identify, describe and evaluate the demographic, clinical, laboratory and treatment factors associated with cases of syphilis in pregnant women and congenital in the Health Surveillance Group GVS XXX; Jales, located in the Northwest of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2013 and 2017. Methods: An exploratory descriptive study conducted in the databases of the Notification Disease Information System and Live Birth Information in which 153 pregnant women with syphilis and 55 cases of congenital syphilis were analyzed. Results: Cases of syphilis in pregnant women occurred in young women with low education and increased from 13 cases in 2013 to 43 cases in 2017. Most pregnant women underwent treponemal and non-treponemal tests. The number of treated partners was greater than that of untreated partners. The incidence of syphilis in pregnant women was 10.37 cases/1000 live births,  and that of congenital syphilis was 3.73 cases/1000 live births. Conclusion: There was a considerable increase in cases of syphilis in pregnant women as well as congenital in the investigated period. The results of this study have showed that there is still a long way to go to achieve WHO´s target of eliminating syphilis as a public health issue.