2022 Volume 58 Issue 1 Pages 195-199
We report a male newborn with congenital syphilis born to a mother whose serological test for syphilis was negative at early gestation. The mother was a 22-year-old, whose serological test for syphilis at 13 weeks of gestation was negative. She had a undiagnosed vulvar ulcer during this period, and it disappeared spontaneously. She delivered a male newborn who weighed 1,536g by emergency cesarean section at 33 weeks and 5 days of gestation. He was transferred to our hospital due to severe birth asphyxia. We suspected congenital infection and commenced treatment with ampicillin（ABPC）and cefotaxime（CTX）on admission. As he had saddle nose, epidermolysis and hepatosplenomegaly, we checked his fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption（FTA-ABS） IgM, which proved to be positive. We made a diagnosis of congenital syphilis, and we changed antibiotic to benzylpenicillin（PCG）and treated him for 10 days.
The number of congenital syphilis and syphilis among young women has been increasing in Japan recently. Maternal serological syphilis test is recommended only at early gestation, but it is necessary to pay attention to the possibility of syphilis infection in the second trimester.
