Congenital syphilis

Congenital syphilis is the infection of a fetus with syphilis following the infection of the mother during pregnancy. ‘Congenital’ indicates that the fetus becomes infected during pregnancy. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. In pregnant women with untreated  early syphilis infection (acquired less than one year previously), 70-100% of infants will be infected, with stillbirth (death or loss of the fetus before or during delivery) occurring in up to one-third of cases. Most transmissions to the fetus occur in late pregnancy (after 28 weeks) and treatment before this period will usually prevent complications in the fetus.