Congenital syphilis screening
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aditya Govindavarjhulla, M.B.B.S. [2]
Overview
Routine screening of newborn serum or umbilical cord blood is not recommended. Serologic testing of the mother’s serum is preferred rather than testing the infant’s serum.
Screening
- Newborn serum is not used for serologic tests. Instead, the mother's serum is preferred. [1]
- The serologic tests performed on infant serum can be nonreactive if the mother’s serologic test result is of low titer or the mother was infected late in pregnancy.
- Screening can be performed using either a nontreponemal or treponemal test. If either screening test is positive, testing must be performed immediately using the other complimentary test (i.e., nontreponemal test followed by treponemal test or vice-versa).
- No infant or mother should leave the hospital unless maternal serologic status has been documented at least once during pregnancy; in communities and populations in which the risk for congenital syphilis is high, documentation should also occur at delivery.