Congenital syphilis in Italy
- A Matteelli1,
- V Dal Punta1,
- A Angeli2,
- R Basché1,
- A C Carvalho1,
- L R Tomasoni1,
- G De Iaco1,
- M Spandrio2
- 1Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
- 2Division of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy
- Correspondence to: Dr A Matteelli Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia, Piazza Spedali Civili, 1–25125 Brescia, Italy; amatteelli{at}bsnet.it
- Accepted 11 June 2007
Abstract
The cases are described of two infants who developed clinical and laboratory signs of congenital syphilis in Northern Italy, a region where the disease had not been documented for several years. The report urges greater vigilance and screening for syphilis among pregnant women and newborns, and contributes to the evidence that the incidence of syphilis is rising among women in Italy.
- CSF, cerebrospinal fluid
- FTA-ABS, fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption
- RPR, rapid plasma reagin
Footnotes
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Contributors
MA supervises clinical activities at the STI clinic and wrote the article. CAC contributed fundamentally to the writing of the manuscript. VdalP, LRT, GdeI and RB provided clinical care to the mothers and managed the infants at the STI clinic. They revised the manuscript at all development stages. MS and AA provided clinical care to the infants at the neonatal department and revised the manuscript at all development stages. All authors have read, discussed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Competing interests: None declared.
