The incidence of positive Wassermann (W) test in sera of pregnant women in the "Hospital das Clínicas", Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of S. Paulo, was determined during the period 1976 to 1981, in order to study its relationship to race, age, place of origin and outcome of pregnancies. There were 16,290 pregnant women attended in this period; 710 (4.4%) were serologically positive, and, of these, 39 aborted and 671 became parturients but only 497 gave birth in this hospital. About 70% of the pregnant women were racially considered "white" and 30% "non-white", for these latter the incidence of positive W test was 6.3% as against 3.5% in the "whites". Most of the patients were from Ribeirão Preto, SP, and the age-group 26-30 years showed the highest incidence (5.1%) of positive tests. The incidence of positive W was higher in the 2nd trienium (1979/81) than in the first one. About 70% of the 497 positive W test women that gave birth in this Hospital attended prenatal clinic but only 40% of them were treated before the delivery. In the "treated" group the incidence of congenital syphilis (confirmed or dubious cases) was 20% as against 61% in the group of "non-treated" mothers. As all the groups of patients showed significant incidence of seropositivity or the disease, it is recommended to screen every pregnant women at each trimester of pregnacy and at delivery, so as to give early treatment for syphilis and to avoid its congenital transmission and sequelae.
Syphilis serodiagnosis; Pregnancy; Wasserman reaction