Seven years of undiagnosed syphilis: a missed opportunity for mother and child

Abstract

We report the case of congenital syphilis diagnosed in a 7-year-old child after her 32-year-old mother was investigated for neurosyphilis. Our case illustrates the importance of antenatal syphilis screening and the need for a clear referral and management pathway for women with positive serology to ensure cases such as ours do not occur in the future.

Keywords: Syphilis; Treponema pallidum; congenital syphilis; diagnosis; prevention; screening; sexually transmitted infection; women.