Syphilis in pregnancy.

The course and outcome of 356 pregnant patients who had a positive serologic test for syphilis and who had delivery at the LSU Medical Center between Jan 1, 1982 and Dec 31, 1984 were compared to those of our general obstetric population. Records of these women and their infants were reviewed for details of prenatal care, diagnosis of syphilis, past treatment, discharge diagnoses, and follow-up. Syphilis occurred during the index pregnancy in 159 cases. Women with syphilis were older, likely to be black and unmarried, and likely to have been pregnant before. Their prenatal care was the same as that of our general obstetric population. Prematurity in syphilitic pregnancies was twice that of our general population; stillborns were four times as common. Eighty-six patients were treated before delivery and 73 were not; the latter included women without prenatal care, those who contracted syphilis after negative early pregnancy screening, and those not treated because of physician error. Forty-nine infants had probable congenital syphilis; seven were stillborn and 42 liveborn.