Purpose: to study the prevalence of congenital syphilis in a universitary hospital of the south of Brazil, emphasizing its role as a prenatal care marker. Patients and Method: a descriptive study of the congenital syphilis cases which occurred at the Hospital Geral (HG-UCS) from June 1st, 2000 to May 31st, 2001, based on the diagnosis criteria proposed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 1998). Results: The prevalence of congenital syphilis was 1.5 (27 cases in 1739 births). The coefficient of congenital syphilis observed was 15.5/1000 newborns. Twenty-three pregnant women (85.2%) received prenatal care; however, the maternal infection with syphilis was diagnosed before the delivery in only 16 (69.6%) cases. Only 4 pregnant women reported an appropriate prenatal treatment of syphilis. In 8 (29.6%) cases an association of maternal syphilis with other sexually transmissible diseases was observed. The coefficient of perinatal mortality was 1.15/1000 births (two perinatal deaths). Conclusions: The authors reaffirm the importance of congenital syphilis as an indicator of perinatal health, since it is a disease that may be completely prevented by prenatal care. In addition, a high prevalence of congenital syphilis allows one to question the quality of the prenatal care, which was available to the studied group.
Syphilis; Congenital syphilis; Sexually transmitted diseases
