Managing Risk for Congenital Syphilis, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Abstract

The recent resurgence of infectious syphilis across many high-income countries has been accompanied by a shift in demographics, including infections increasing among women of reproductive age. Consequently, several high-income countries are reporting increasing cases of congenital syphilis, a disease associated with a range of health and social consequences and a disease that is treatable, is preventable, and could be eliminated. To prevent congenital syphilis in the large cosmopolitan city of Perth, Western Australia, Australia, multilevel coordinated action was undertaken, including increased frequency of syphilis screening of pregnant women, workforce education and community engagement, regular interagency meetings to manage syphilis during pregnancy, use of a dynamic electronic syphilis register, use of synoptic (structured) reporting to guide management at delivery (neonatal management plans), and congenital syphilis case reviews. Other jurisdictions facing increasing syphilis cases should consider adopting these measures to reduce the risk for congenital syphilis.

Keywords

• congenital syphilis
• communicable diseases
• congenital abnormalities
• sexually transmitted diseases
• public health
• Treponema pallidum