Background of Congenital Syphilis

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Abstract
The authors studied 254 individuals with congenital syphilis from the social as well as from the medical standpoint. On admission 14% of the patients had infantile congenital syphilis, 86% clinical manifestations of late congenital syphilis, and 20% latent syphilis. Interstitial keratitis was present in 56%, and stigmata in 40%. Of the congenital syphilitics 9.4% were illegitimate whereas only 3.8% of the noninfected members of the family were illegitimate. The patients were also assessed in relation to poverty, general health, employment, marital status, housing, conduct, and child care; but the significance of these findings could not be assessed because no comparable statistics for the community could be found. In further comparison of the congenital syphilitics with their noninfected siblings, the congenital syphilitics were engaged in less skilled work and were in a lower social order than their fathers; whereas the noninfected fell into a higher social class, often with more skilled occupations than their fathers. For the prevention of congenital syphilis, the authors recommend routine premarital serologic testing, serologic testing of every woman in every pregnancy, and serologic and radiologic investigation of every infant born of a syphilitic mother.

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