In 2015, 28 701 syphilis cases were reported in 29 EU/EEA Member States (data were not available from Austria and Liechtenstein), at a rate of 6.0 per 100 000 population.
Congenital syphilis is the infection of a foetus with syphilis following the infection of the mother during pregnancy. ‘Congenital’ indicates that the foetus also becomes infected during pregnancy.
This publication aims to support the strengthening of antenatal screening programmes for HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis and rubella susceptibility in the general population and in groups identified as vulnerable to mother-to-child-transmission in the EU/EEA.
This literature review was conducted as part of a project evaluating the effectiveness of antenatal screening for HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis and rubella susceptibility in EU/EEA Member States.
In order to collect evidence on effective types of antenatal screening intervention that are effective for population groups vulnerable to MTCT, a review of the existing published literature was performed.